A ceremonial cap worn by courtiers at coronations is among the items that will be loaned back to Ghana (PHOTO: BRITISH MUSEUM)
Sun 04 February 2024:
After stealing them from the Asante king’s court for 150 years, the UK is returning some of Ghana’s “crown jewels” home.
According to the BBC, among the 32 objects returned under long-term loan agreements is a gold peace pipe.
Fifteen of the seventeen pieces being lent by the Victoria & Albert Museum (V&A) come from the British Museum.
The head negotiator for Ghana expressed his hope for “a new sense of cultural co-operation” following generations of hostility.
Some national museums in the UK – including the V&A and the British Museum – are banned by law from permanently giving back contested items in their collections, and loan deals such as this are seen as a way to allow objects to return to their countries of origin.
But some countries laying claim to disputed artefacts fear that loans may be used to imply they accept the UK’s ownership.
The items to be loaned, most of which were taken during 19th-Century wars between the British and the Asante, include a sword of state and gold badges worn by officials charged with cleansing the soul of the king.
The three-year loan agreements, with an option to extend for a further three years, are not with the Ghanaian government but with Otumfo Osei Tutu II – the current Asante king known as the Asantehene – who attended the Coronation of King Charles last year.
The items will go on display at the Manhyia Palace Museum in Kumasi, the capital of the Asante region, to celebrate the Asantehene’s silver jubilee.
The Asante gold artefacts are the ultimate symbol of the Asante royal government and are believed to be invested with the spirits of former Asante kings.
King Charles III met the Asantehene, Otumfuo Osei Tutu II, at Buckingham Palace for his coronation last year. IMAGE SOURCE, GETTY IMAGES
Nana Oforiatta Ayim, special adviser to Ghana’s culture minister, told the BBC: “They’re not just objects, they have spiritual importance as well. They are part of the soul of the nation. It’s pieces of ourselves returning.”
She said the loan was “a good starting point” on the anniversary of the looting and “a sign of some kind of healing and commemoration for the violence that happened”.
In 1874 after an Asante attack, British troops launched a “punitive expedition”, in the colonial language of the time, ransacking Kumasi and taking many of the palace treasures.
SOURCE: INDEPENDENT PRESS AND NEWS AGENCIES
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