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The Smithsonian Institution’s board of regents on June 13 voted to deaccession twenty-nine of the thirty-nine Benin bronzes held in the collection of the National Museum of African Art. The objects, part of a roughly 90,000-piece trove of artefacts stolen by British troops in 1897 from the Republic of Benin, as Nigeria was then known, are to be returned to Nigeria’s National Commission for Museums and Monuments at a yet-to-be-announced date. The remaining ten bronzes are likely to be repatriated as well; the Smithsonian, which in March had said it would return all of the objects, is still
In a landmark agreement, the UK will hold formal talks with Greece in regard to the repatriation of the Parthenon marbles, which Greece has actively sought since 1983. Also known as the Elgin marbles, the ancient sculptures were stolen from the Acropolis in 1801 by Lord Elgin and have been held in the collection of London’s British Museum for more than two hundred years. No date has yet been set for an initial meeting, which was proposed by the UK on April 29 and accepted by Greece. Unesco announced the agreement on May 17.Created between 447 BCE and 432 BCE, the contested objects comprise
In a decision that could mark a turning point in the growing restitution movement, the Smithsonian Institution announced on March 8 that it will repatriate to Nigeria nearly all of the thirty-nine Benin bronzes held in its collection. Many of the objects are believed to be part of the trove of some 90,000 brass, bronze, and ivory items looted from the Republic of Benin, as Nigeria was then known, in 1897 by British troops and dispersed across the Continent and then to parts west. The Smithsonian legally owns the objects, the majority of which arrived at the museum through donations over a span