Two British museums are returning gold and silver artifacts to Ghana under a long-term loan arrangement, according to NBC. The valuables were plundered from the Asante people 150 years ago during Britain’s colonial struggles in West Africa.
The “important cultural” relationship was announced on Thursday by the Victoria and Albert Museum (V&A) in London, the British Museum, and the Manhyia Palace Museum in Ghana.
By working together, the UK gets around regulations that prohibit taking cultural artifacts back to their original nations.
The British Museum has been unable to return the Parthenon Marbles, popularly referred to as the Elgin Marbles, to Greece due to these rules.
About 17 objects total, including 13 pieces of Asante royal regalia that the V&A purchased at auction in 1874, are included in the loan arrangement.
The artifacts were acquired by the museums after they were looted by British forces during the Anglo-Asante wars of 1873–74 and 1895–96.
The organizations issued a statement saying: “These objects are of cultural, historical, and spiritual significance to the Asante people, they are also inextricably linked to the history of British colonisation in West Africa, many were taken during the Anglo-Asante wars of the 19th century from Kumasi.”
The items included by the loan arrangement constitute a tiny fraction of the Asante artifacts held by British museums and private collectors around the world.
The British Museum alone is said to have 239 items of Asante regalia in its possession.
The arrangement was referred to as a “beginning point” by Nana Oforiatta Ayim, special assistant to Ghana’s minister of culture, in reference to British regulations that prohibit the repatriation of cultural assets.
She did, however, tell the BBC that the regalia should ultimately be returned to its proper owners.
“Let me give you an instance. If someone went into your house, took items, and stored them there, how would you feel if they came back a few years later and said, “You know what? I’ll return the items you lent me,” she inquired.
