Benin

Benin will have its first ever Venice Biennale pavilion in 2024

The presentation will be curated by Azu Nwagbogu, founder of the African Artists’ Foundation and former director of Zeitz Museum of Contemporary Art

Benin bronzes online database goes live with details of thousands of looted artefacts

"Digital Benin" catalogue gathers together information on objects stolen from the Kingdom of Benin and now held in collections around the world

Museumsanalysis

Berlin's controversial Humboldt Forum is finally complete—but 'the work inside begins now', German Culture Minister says

Twenty years since its conception and at a cost of around €680m, the new German museum must now follow through on its restitution promises

Another UK museum will return a Benin bronze to Nigeria

Great North Museum: Hancock in Newcastle seeks "proactive repatriation" after "forceful removal" by British troops in 1897

Beninnews

Benin pushes for 'full restitution' as 26 looted objects destined to return to the country go on show at the Quai Branly in Paris

A farewell exhibition, due to be visited by French President Emmanuel Macron this week, is being hosted at the French museum. But the West African nation is "not satisfied" with the partial restitution

Restitution—what’s really going on?

Returning objects to their original homes is a way of righting past wrongs. But there's more to it than that

Looted African works that France has promised to return to Benin will be shown in Paris museum for one last time

The exhibition Benin: the Restitution of 26 Works from the Royal Treasures of Abomey at Musée du quai Branly–Jacques Chirac will be on view for five days in October

Will the Queen return her Benin bronze? How the African treasure was looted not once, but twice

The 17th-century oba head was plucked from the Nigerian National Museum and given to Elizabeth II as a thank-you gift

Germany launches African museum exchange programme to discuss returning looted objects

New government initiative MuseumsLab aims to foster more international co-operation and consider topics including decolonisation and restitution

UCLA’s Fowler Museum to reach out to Nigeria about returning its Benin bronzes

As restitution momentum builds, director of Smithsonian’s National Museum of African Art says it could lead discussions for the return of looted Benin objects in US museum collections

London’s Horniman Museum—home to 15 Benin bronzes—announces new ‘transparent procedures’ for looted object requests

South London museum has released new policies on restitution but says it will need to seek legal advice about the right to return artefacts

Podcastspodcast

Benin bronzes: looted treasures will return to Nigeria at last

Plus, the newly discovered Van Gogh is sold and artist Rana Begum on Tess Jaray

Hosted by Ben Luke and Aimee Dawson. with guest speakers Catherine Hickley and Martin Bailey. Produced by Julia Michalska, David Clack and Henrietta Bentall
Podcastspodcast

Is the future of museums in Africa?

We speak to museum experts András Szántó and Sonia Lawson. Plus, Dan Hicks on the legacy of colonial looting and National Gallery curator Christopher Riopelle on the Polish painter Jan Matejko

Hosted by Ben Luke. Produced by Julia Michalska, David Clack and Aimee Dawson

French Senate votes unanimously for restitution to Benin and Senegal in 'act of friendship and trust'

Senate approves bill to return 27 colonial-era artefacts from museum collections to Africa within one year

Waning market for African artefacts? Controversial Benin bronze fails to sell at Christie's

Academics challenge the provenance of the Edo plaque as well as two Igbo alusi figures that sold under estimate for €212,500

Protesters topple monument to slave trader Edward Colston in Bristol—mayor wants to place it in a museum

Controversial statue was dismantled and thrown into the harbour during a Black Lives Matter rally

Looted Benin treasures to go online in international project led by Hamburg museum

Project is backed by the Ernst von Siemens art foundation, which seeks “a more factual focus to the discussions about restitution”

'We want to be part of the solution': UK museum says it is open to discussing fate of Benin bronze after prince demands its return

Bristol Museum & Art Gallery wants to work in tandem with the Benin Dialogue Group, which is made up of institutions that hold the majority of the pieces

France promises to return 26 looted Benin artefacts by 2021 and opens talks on 'wider set of works'

But restitution depends on the adoption of a law covering these specific items, while Benin secures a location to house them

Cambridge college returns Benin bronze to Nigeria

Statue of a cockerel was looted by the British in 1897 from the Court of Benin

Museum of Fine Arts Boston gets Benin’s royal blessing over bronzes display

The educational display of objects, many captured during a punitive raid in 1897, have the approval of the king of Benin himself

Benin mask withdrawn from Sotheby's auction

Cancellation follows accusations that the object was looted, although no formal claim has been made

Is very rare Benin ivory mask for sale?

Last of rare Benin ivories in private hands is expected to go on the market

Benin biennials begin with feuds over unethical behaviour

Benin waited more than 50 years since its independence for a biennial, and now it has two

Lehman gift of Benin treasures to Museum of Fine Arts angers Nigeria

Works looted by the British and reassembled by banking heir find permanent home in Boston

How The Queen came to own a Lagos museum piece

The Nigerian Head of State raided a museum to present her with a Benin bronze in 1973

Bernie Grant and the quest to return ceremonial objects to Nigeria: Was the Stone of Destiny Pandora’s box?

Grant shares with The Art Newspaper his conversation with Julian Spalding of the Kelingrove Art Gallery in Glasgow

Stolen Benin bronze found in Zürich

Stolen from Jos, Nigeria, Benin bronze turns up in Zürich auction house