Two Benin Bronzes which the Church of England intend to return to Africa / Lambeth Palace
The Church of England has promised to return two Benin Bronzes, given as gifts to former Archbishop of Canterbury Robert Runcie almost 40 years ago, to Nigeria. x
“We have recently been contacted by the Digital Benin project at the MARKK (Hamburg) who enquired about our collection of gifts at Lambeth Palace and if we had received any Benin kingdom objects as gifts over the years,” the spokeswoman of Lambeth Palace, the official home of the Archbishop of Canterbury, said.
“In response, we have confirmed to the Digital Benin project that we have two bronze busts, given to us by the Benin kingdom in 1982,” she said.
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For years, the head of a queen sat in storage in a building in Berlin. Her face is smooth, but her head is intricately engraved and topped with a crown befitting a
lyoba a matriarch figure from the Kingdom of Benin, in present day Nigeria.
Carved in the early 16
th century, it is one of more than a thousand metal sculptures looted by British soldiers as they plundered Benin City in 1897. In the century since, the so-called Benin Bronzes have been bought and sold by museums and private collectors across Europe and North America, and today they are among the most coveted African artifacts in the world.
Plus, the Museum of African American Music opens in Nashville, and watch out for Florine Stettheimer fakes.
February 8, 2021
Thomas Campbell at the Manus x Machina: Fashion In An Age Of Technology press conference in May 2016. (Photo by Randy Brooke/Getty Images)
Art Industry News is a daily digest of the most consequential developments coming out of the art world and art market. Here’s what you need to know on this Monday, February 8.
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Mwazulu Diyabanza Eyes the British Museum as His Next Target – While museums are closed, the Congolese activist, who made headlines last year for his actions at museums across Europe, has been planning his next move. He tells the
Mwazulu Diyabanza has been fined and jailed for entering museums and forcibly removing ‘pillaged’ African artefacts. He tells our writer why the British Museum is now in his sights
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Heritage activist Mwazulu Diyabanza, from Congo, has been on a grabbing spree of African artefacts in European museums that were stolen from former colonies. His actions have left him with a total bill of $9,771 in fines.
What is driving Diyabanza to take ethnographic collections that are on display in museums across Europe? It’s his frustration with stringent ancient laws that go back to the 16th century in most European countries that consider cultural heritage materials stolen from Africa as “inalienable”.
Diyabanza, 41, has always defended himself on the basis that his actions cannot be considered theft because the objects were already stolen property.