By Nneka Nwogwugwu
As the agitations to repatriate African treasures continues to grow, the Church of England has promised to return two Benin Bronzes to Nigeria.
Lambeth Palace said it is “currently in discussions” about the return of the works which were given as gifts to then Archbishop of Canterbury Robert Runcie almost 40 years ago.
They are likely to end up at the planned Edo Museum of West African Art (EMOWAA) which is being built in Benin City specifically to showcase the treasures of the African kingdom which is in present day Nigeria.
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Benin was attacked by British troops in 1897 with around 5,000 works of art plundered and spread across the globe which are now being tracked by an online project gathering information about them.
A Lambeth Palace spokeswoman said: “We have recently been contacted by the Digital Benin project at the MARKK (Hamburg) who enquired about our collection of gifts at Lambeth Palace and if we had received any Benin kingdom objects as gifts over the years.
“In response, we have confirmed to the Digital Benin project that we have two bronze busts, given to us by the Benin kingdom in 1982. These were gifted to Archbishop Robert Runcie by His Excellency Chief (Prof.) Ambrose F. Alli and the University of Nigeria, Nuskka.
“We have offered for the two busts to be included in the Digital Benin project and eventually, returned to our friends in Edo, Nigeria where they may remain. We are currently in discussions with the EMOWAA, via the Legacy Restoration Trust, to arrange this.”
The move comes amid growing pressure on institutions to return looted works of arts with the Horniman Museum in Forest Hill one of the latest to take steps to potentially hand back exhibits.
