After 120 Years, a Scottish University Says “Sorry, Not Sorry!” to Benin
London – On the third Friday of October, a surprisingly humble Scottish university made a big, public “oops” moment by handing over a bronze head of an ancient king to Nigeria. The head, stripped from the royal court of Benin a long time ago, is just one of hundreds of artifacts the British tried to loot in 1897.
Why the Head is the Stacking Series of the First Pick
- Origin: The sculpture is the skull of an Oba (meaning “king”) from the once-great Kingdom of Benin, now part of Nigeria.
- Genuine Loot: The bronzes, most of them lounging around Europe, were among the biggest cultural treasures taken during the colonial era.
- UK Connection: The University of Aberdeen snagged the head in a 1957 auction. A recent provenance check confirmed it wasn’t a fair play – it was a piece of the stolen puzzle.
ACADEMIC AND ELDER INSTRUMENTS
The university’s head honcho, Professor George Boyne, opened the ceremony with something that sounded straight out of a school play:
“In the last forty years, the Benin Bronzes have become symbols of deep‑rooted injustice.”
“It would be insane to keep an item that’s as culturally pure as a lost soul, especially when it was taken in bad ways.”
Balancing Acts from the Caribbean
Meanwhile, the current ruler of Benin, Oba Ewuare II, added a touch of royalty to the proceedings:
“The bronzes hold the spirits of the peoples that once owned them, and that’s why we’re thrilled that the Scottish folks are doing a good deed.”
NOT ONE, BUT THREE Institutions Are Rolling the Return Roll
- Cambridge University’s college returned its own Benin Bronze to Nigeria yesterday.
- Paris’s Qau Branly Museum has handed over 26 artifacts that were removed in 1892 to the republic that shares a border with Nigeria.
- Germany’s museums are set to start restitutions next year.
What this means: The European arm’s big splash may put pressure on the British Museum – the current curator of the largest Benin Bronze collection – to play ball.
Takeaway
It feels like an old story with a fresh twist: the past is finally being mended, one bronze sculpture at a time, with a little humor and heartfelt apology. And hopefully, this sparks a wave of similar gestures that recover cultural treasures and bring a bit of laughter to the world.
