The British Museum and the Victoria and Albert Museum will return gold and silver objects plundered during colonial times from Ghana’s Asante royal court, the museums and palace announced on Thursday.
The Ghana agreement for a long-term loan of the antiques comes as worldwide pressure mounts on museums and institutions to restore African antiquities from former colonial powers Britain, France, Germany, and Belgium.
Returning pieces include a 300-year-old Mponponso sword used in Asantehene swearing-in ceremonies, a gold peace pipe, and cast gold soul-washers’ badges, among other treasures.
The relics were collected following the third Anglo-Asante War in 1874 and consist of 32 items, 15 from the British Museum and 17 from the Victoria and Albert Museum, both in London.
They will be on display at the Manhyia Palace Museum in Kumasi, the Asantehene kingdom’s capital, for up to six years, according to the royal palace.
“Items of gold and silver regalia associated with the Asante royal court will be displayed in Kumasi later this year as part of a long-term loan commitment by the British Museum and the Victoria and Albert Museum,” the two museums said in a joint statement.
“Many of these items will be seen in Ghana for the first time in 150 years.”
The repatriation coincides with three major events in the Ashanti kingdom: the 150th anniversary of the 1874 war, a centenary celebration commemorating the return of one king, Asantehene Agyeman Prempeh I, from exile after being banished, and the silver jubilee of the current king, Asantehene Osei Tutu II.
It follows nearly a half-century of conversations between the Manhyia palace and the British Museum.
Asantehene Osei Tutu II appointed two technical consultants to help with the return: Ghanaian historian Ivor Agyeman-Duah and Scottish historian and former vice principal of the University of Glasgow, Malcolm McLeod.
Nigeria is also negotiating the return of hundreds of 16th to 18th century metal plaques, sculptures, and items taken from the ancient Kingdom of Benin and now housed in museums and art collections across the United States and Europe.
Two years ago, the neighboring Benin republic received two dozen antiques and artworks stolen in 1892 by French colonial forces from Dahomey’s capital.
The artifacts’ return to Ghana comes as Greece continues to put pressure on Britain over the Parthenon Marbles.
British diplomat Thomas Bruce, the Earl of Elgin, pulled the sculptures from the Parthenon temple at the Acropolis in Greece in the early nineteenth century.
Athens claims the marbles were stolen, which Britain rejects, and the matter has been a point of controversy between the two countries for decades.