Point News247 has learnt that Cambridge University College will on Wednesday, October 27, hand over to Nigeria a sculpture that was looted by British troops in 1897, setting a precedent that will put pressure on other institutions to return stolen artifacts.
The Okukor, one of the Benin Bronzes, at Jesus College, University of Cambridge, will be returned to the Court of Benin in southern Nigeria after three years of discussions between the college’s Legacy of Slavery Working Party and the Benin Dialogue Group. It was concluded that the royal ancestral heirloom “belongs with the current Oba at the Court of Benin” and it “was looted directly from the Court of Benin”.
The sculpture of a cockerel was one of hundreds of Benin Bronzes that were pillaged from the mighty Kingdom of Benin, Nigeria. They are among Africa’s most culturally significant artifacts and Nigerian authorities have been calling for years for their return.
After being looted, the cockerel was given to Jesus College in 1905 by the father of a student. The college announced in 2019 it would return it to Nigeria.
“This is the right thing to do out of respect for the unique heritage and history of this artifact,” said Sonita Alleyne, Master of Jesus College, Cambridge, in a statement ahead of a ceremony to hand over the cockerel to a Nigerian delegation.
The college described the handover as “the first institutional return of its kind.”
Germany has agreed to start returning Benin Bronzes held in its museums next year, but the British Museum in London, which holds the largest and most significant collection of them, has made no such commitment.
In recent years, a range of British institutions have been grappling with the cultural legacies of colonialism, particularly the issue of what to do about disputed heritage.
Source: Reuters