and cultural violence this was. the heads that we see before us here were several of the objects that graced ancestral altars throughout the palace, and the purpose of those altars was very much to maintain the lineage, to maintain the kingdom. the plaques that had been removed from the walls throughout the city were visualisations of the benin kingdom s history and heritage, and those were all taken away in a wholesale export of this material, leaving very, very little behind. tell me, why are you now and only now returning some of the pieces? i think it s the right time for these collections to go back. one might say it s long overdue. i think the main reason, the most recent reason, is that there has been a request from the nigerian government, and i think fundamentally for us it s the right thing to do. these were stolen, these were looted. there are many, many different ways in which objects came to museums like this.
we ve identified 116 objects that were taken during the punitive expedition of 1897, and those are the objects that we will be transferring ownership of. i think it s impossible to overstate just how severe an act of vandalism and cultural violence this was. the heads that we see before us here were several of the objects that graced ancestral altars throughout the palace and the purpose of those altars was very much to maintain the lineage, to maintain the kingdom. the plaques that were being removed from the walls throughout the city were visualisations of the benin kingdom s history and heritage, and those were all taken away in a wholesale export of this material, leaving very, very little behind. tell me, why are you now and only now returning some of the pieces? i think it s the right time for these collections to go back.
we ve identified 116 objects that were taken during the punitive expedition of 1897, and those are the objects that we will be transferring ownership of. i think it s impossible to overstate just how severe an act of vandalism and cultural violence this was. the heads that we see before us here were several of the objects that graced ancestral altars throughout the palace, and the purpose of those altars was very much to maintain the lineage, to maintain the kingdom. the plaques that had been removed from the walls throughout the city were visualisations of the benin kingdom s history and heritage, and those were all taken away in a wholesale export of this material, leaving very, very little behind. tell me, why are you now and only now returning some of the pieces? i think it s the right time for these collections to go back. one might say it s
more recently, germany handed back 22 bronzes and agreed to release over 1,000 items from their collections. the horniman in london has also sent pieces back to nigeria, and soon cambridge university s museum of archaeology and anthropology will follow suit. we ve identified 116 objects that were taken during the punitive expedition of 1897, and those are the objects that we will be transferring ownership of. i think it s impossible to overstate just how severe an act of vandalism and cultural violence this was. the heads that we see before us here were several of the objects that graced ancestral altars throughout the palace, and the purpose of those altars was very much to maintain the lineage, to
expedition of 1897, and those are the objects that we will be transferring ownership of. i think it s impossible to overstate just how severe an act of vandalism and cultural violence this was. the heads that we see before us here were several of the objects that graced ancestral altars throughout the palace, and the purpose of those altars was very much to maintain the lineage, to maintain the kingdom. the plaques that had been removed from the walls throughout the city were visualisations of the benin kingdom s history and heritage, and those were all taken away in a wholesale export of this material, leaving very, very little behind. tell me, why are you now and only now returning some of the pieces? i think it s the right time for these collections to go back.