Cultural heritage takes first step on journey home

These three totems, half human, half animal, are kept in the collection at the Parisian Quai Branly Museum for non-European art. They come from the West African Kingdom of Dahomey, which is now the Republic of Benin. The former French colony has classified the objects as looted art and in 2016 demanded their return. France refused the request.

These masks of the Dogon people are also in the Quai Branly’s collection. They originate from Mali and were brought to France after an expedition in the early 1930s. Their forms have influenced the works of famous artists, including Picasso and Baselitz. Reports from expedition members indicate the ruthless methods used to remove cultural objects.

The eyes are wide open, the body full of nails. The Mangaaka, a power figure from the Congo Basin was, in 1880, supposed to protect an African village from colonial invaders. Only 17 figures exist worldwide, one of them in the Ethnological Museum of Berlin. It's estimated that some 90 percent of Africa's cultural heritage is in Europe.

The French General Alfred Amédée Dodds took a leading role in the colonization of West Africa. In 1892 his men plundered the palace of King Béhanzin, in Abomey, the capital city of the Kindom of Dahomey. This brass statue of the cult god Gu, who was supposed to have the power of life and death, is believed to have been among the objects taken in that raid.

This statue of Ghezo, a 19th century king of Dahomey, as well as thrones and doors with bas-reliefs were also among the objects which General Dodds handed over to the World Exhibition at Paris's Trocadero Palace in 1878. Since 2016, Benin has campaigned for the return of these items.

The French General Louis Archinard conquered Ségou, in what is now Mali, in 1890. The cultural objects which the French army looted included jewelry, weapons, and manuscripts. The objects are now on display in Paris and Le Havre. Since 1994, the descendants of El Hadj Umar Tall have demanded the restitution of the objects.

The acquisitive lust of European colonizers wasn’t limited to Africa. In 1880, the Ethnological Museum of Berlin commissioned Norwegian seafarer Johan Adrian Jacobsen to acquire objects from the indigenous cultures of North America. In 2018, these plundered burial objects from Alaska were returned. It was the Foundation of Prussian Cultural Heritage's first restitution to the original owners.