Posted
Update
Twenty-six works, including statues and totems from the ancient kingdom of Dahomey, in Benin, arrived in Cotonou. These treasures had been looted by French colonial troops in the 19th century.
The crowd got massaged in the streets of Cotonou in Benin, Wednesday, November 10, on the road of an escorted and secure convoy. Un treasure is inside the trucks: the 26 works of art that France has just returned to Benin, their country of origin. “I am very satisfied and I am even in a hurry to see them”, Comments a Beninese, delighted. These works, some of which are of a sacred nature, arrived in Cotonou by plane in the middle of the afternoon and reached the presidential palace.
“France has understood that they are our colonizers, but that we must join hands, because that is also part of development”, underlines a Beninese. The 26 pieces were seized in 1892 by French colonial troops, in the king’s palace located in Abomey, the current Benin. The works will remain in their box for two months, time to acclimatize to the heat and humidity, before being presented to the public.