Jesus College Cambridge has agreed to return a Benin bronze statue to Nigeria, after it was taken by British colonial forces from the country in the late nineteenth century.
The artefact is set to be one of the first Benin bronzes returned to Nigeria, after thousands were stolen from Benin City in a punitive 1897 expedition by British forces.
The decision to return the artefact comes after increasing scrutiny of the origins of our museum collections, and a growing movement to repatriate objects taken from former British colonies.
Objects in national collections including the British Museum and the V&A cannot be returned to their countries of origin because they are protected by the Heritage Act. However, little is known about how many Benin Bronzes are held in smaller institutions outside of the capital that are not covered by the legislation.
Academics believe that hundreds of items taken during the expedition are held in city museums, art galleries, universities and in private collections all over the UK.
We’d like to start locating these objects, and mapping their journeys to Britain – and we need your help.
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