Chrysler Museum of Art returns Bakor monolith to Nigeria

After being informed of its origins in winter 2022, the Chrysler Museum has returned a circa-1600 Akwanshi Head, a stone Bakor monolith, to Nigeria. The piece was given to the museum in 2012; neither the museum nor its donors were aware it had been looted. Image courtesy of the Chrysler Museum of Art
After being informed of its origins in winter 2022, the Chrysler Museum has returned a circa-1600 Akwanshi Head, a stone Bakor monolith, to Nigeria. The piece was given to the museum in 2012; neither the museum nor its donors were aware it had been looted. Image courtesy of the Chrysler Museum of Art
After being informed of its origins in late winter, the Chrysler Museum has returned a circa-1600 Akwanshi Head, a stone Bakor monolith, to Nigeria. The piece was given to the museum in 2012; neither the museum nor its donors were aware it had been looted. Image courtesy of the Chrysler Museum of Art

NORFOLK, Va. – The Chrysler Museum of Art and the National Commission for Museums and Monuments Nigeria (NCMM) have collaborated on the restitution of an original Bakor monolith from the village of Njemetop in Cross River State to Nigeria.

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FBI: 50 items stolen from museums in 5 states returned

Connecticut State Troopers will escort the rare Colt Whitneyville Walker revolver (visible in the bottom row with CT tag) back to its home state. A powderhorn (center right) dating to the French and Indian War was stolen from a Belchertown, Massachusetts, museum in the 1970s. Both were among dozens of artifacts stolen from several different American museums five decades ago that will soon be returned. Image courtesy of the Federal Bureau of Investigations (FBI)
Connecticut State Troopers will escort the rare Colt Whitneyville Walker revolver (visible in the bottom row with CT tag) back to its home state. A powderhorn (center right) dating to the French and Indian War was stolen from a Belchertown, Massachusetts, museum in the 1970s. Both were among dozens of artifacts stolen from several different American museums five decades ago that will soon be returned. Image courtesy of the Federal Bureau of Investigations (FBI)
Connecticut State Troopers will escort the rare Colt Whitneyville Walker revolver (visible in the bottom row with CT tag) back to its home state. A powderhorn (center right) dating to the French and Indian War was stolen from a Belchertown, Massachusetts, museum in the 1970s. Both are among dozens of artifacts stolen from several different American museums five decades ago that are being returned to their home institutions. Image courtesy of the Federal Bureau of Investigations (FBI)

PHILADELPHIA (AP) – Federal authorities say dozens of artifacts stolen in the 1970s from museums in several states and dating back as far as the French and Indian War have been returned to the institutions.

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Germany’s foreign minister to personally return 20 Benin Bronzes to Nigeria

German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock (right), photographed with U.S. Secretary of State Antony J. Blinken during a November 2022 meeting un Munster, Germany. Baerbock will personally return 20 Benin Bronzes to Nigeria during a trip scheduled for the week of December 18. Image courtesy of Wikimedia Commons, photo credit the U.S. Department of State. As a work of the U.S. federal government, the image is in the public domain.
German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock (right), photographed with U.S. Secretary of State Antony J. Blinken during a November 2022 meeting un Munster, Germany. Baerbock will personally return 20 Benin Bronzes to Nigeria during a trip scheduled for the week of December 18. Image courtesy of Wikimedia Commons, photo credit the U.S. Department of State. As a work of the U.S. federal government, the image is in the public domain.
German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock (right), photographed with U.S. Secretary of State Antony J. Blinken during a November 2022 meeting in Munster, Germany. Baerbock will personally return 20 Benin Bronzes to Nigeria during a trip scheduled for the week of December 18. Image courtesy of Wikimedia Commons, photo credit the U.S. Department of State. As a work of the U.S. federal government, the image is in the public domain.

BERLIN (AP) – Germany’s foreign minister will personally take 20 artifacts looted by Europeans during colonial times back to Nigeria when she visits to Africa’s most populous country next week, her spokesman said December 16. The symbolic gesture follows an agreement earlier this year between Berlin and Abuja that will see all 514 so-called Benin Bronzes held in German museums handed back to Nigeria.

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Africa sees some artifacts returned home but seeks far more

A memorial bronze bust of a king’s mother dating to the 16 th century, from the Benin Kingdom in what is now Nigeria, photographed on display at the Ethnological Museum in Berlin in November 2014. Germany and Nigeria recently made an agreement for the European nation to return several Benin bronzes to Nigeria, but other countries have been less receptive to African requests for the return of their art and artifacts. Image courtesy of Wikimedia Commons, photo credit Daderot. Shared under the Creative Commons CC0 1.0 Universal Public Domain Dedication.
A memorial bronze bust of a king’s mother dating to the 16 th century, from the Benin Kingdom in what is now Nigeria, photographed on display at the Ethnological Museum in Berlin in November 2014. Germany and Nigeria recently made an agreement for the European nation to return several Benin bronzes to Nigeria, but other countries have been less receptive to African requests for the return of their art and artifacts. Image courtesy of Wikimedia Commons, photo credit Daderot. Shared under the Creative Commons CC0 1.0 Universal Public Domain Dedication.
A memorial bronze bust of a king’s mother dating to the 16th century, from the Benin Kingdom in what is now Nigeria, photographed on display at the Ethnological Museum in Berlin in November 2014. Germany and Nigeria recently made an agreement for Germany to return several Benin bronzes to Nigeria, but other European countries have been less receptive to African requests for the return of their art and artifacts. Image courtesy of Wikimedia Commons, photo credit Daderot. Shared under the Creative Commons CC0 1.0 Universal Public Domain Dedication.

KAMPALA, Uganda (AP) – Apollo John Rwamparo speaks forlornly of the eight-legged stool, a symbol of authority for his ancient kingdom in Uganda, now glimpsed through a glass barrier at a museum thousands of miles away in Britain. The wooden stool is permanently exhibited at the University of Oxford, one of at least 279 objects there taken from Bunyoro-Kitara kingdom during the colonial era. Oxford has resisted attempts to have the stool repatriated, saying it was donated by a royal from a breakaway kingdom. “It’s quite frustrating,” said Rwamparo, a deputy prime minister and minister for tourism for the kingdom. “The best is for them to swallow their pride, like the French and the Germans have done, and return the artifacts.”

African countries’ efforts at restitution, after long resistance from authorities in Europe, are now blossoming with the return of treasured pieces that once were thought unattainable.

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Germany, Nigeria sign accord on return of Benin Bronzes

Early 16th-century Benin Kingdom (now Nigeria) bronze bust of a king mother’s iyoba, photographed on display at the Ethnological Museum in Berlin, Germany in November 2014. On July 1, representatives from Germany and Nigeria were set to sign an agreement to return the Benin bronzes to Nigeria. Image courtesy of Wikimedia Commons, photo credit Daderot. Shared under the Creative Commons CC0 1.0 Universal Public Domain Dedication.
Early 16th-century Benin Kingdom (now Nigeria) bronze bust of a king mother’s iyoba, photographed on display at the Ethnological Museum in Berlin, Germany in November 2014. On July 1, representatives from Germany and Nigeria were set to sign an agreement to return the Benin bronzes to Nigeria. Image courtesy of Wikimedia Commons, photo credit Daderot. Shared under the Creative Commons CC0 1.0 Universal Public Domain Dedication.
Early 16th-century Benin Kingdom (now Nigeria) bronze bust of a king mother’s iyoba, photographed on display at the Ethnological Museum in Berlin, Germany in November 2014. On July 1, representatives from Germany and Nigeria signed an agreement to return the Benin bronzes to Nigeria. Image courtesy of Wikimedia Commons, photo credit Daderot. Shared under the Creative Commons CC0 1.0 Universal Public Domain Dedication.

BERLIN (AP) – Germany and Nigeria on July 1 signed an agreement paving the way for the return of hundreds of artifacts known as the Benin Bronzes that were taken from Africa more than 120 years ago – an accord that Nigerian officials hope will prompt other countries to follow suit.

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