The crown jewels of Africa that the British Empire looted and that the United Kingdom now returns as a loan

United Kingdom is sending back home some of the “crown jewels” of Ghana150 years after looting them from the court of the Asante king.

A golden peace pipe is among 32 items set to be returned to the African country under long-term loan agreements, the BBC can reveal.

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Of the objects, 17 pieces are from the Victoria & Albert Museum (V&A) and 15 from the British Museum.

Ghana’s top negotiator said he hoped for “a new sense of cultural cooperation” after generations of anger.

Some UK national museums, including the V&A and the British Museum, are prohibited by law from permanently returning disputed items from their collections, and loan deals like this are seen as a way of allowing objects to return to their countries of origin.

But some countries claiming disputed artifacts They fear that accepting the loans could mean they admit that they are property of the United Kingdom.

Tristram Hunt, director of the V&A, told the BBC that the gold items in the court insignia are the equivalent of the British Crown Jewels.

The items to be loaned, most of which were taken during the 19th century wars between the British and the Asante, include a state sword and gold insignia worn by officials tasked with cleansing the king’s soul.

For the Asantehene

Hunt said that when museums contain “objects with origins in war and looting in military campaigns, we have a responsibility to the countries of origin to think about how we can share them more fairly“.

“It doesn’t seem to me that all our museums are going to fail because of this type of association and exchange.”

However, Hunt insisted that the new cultural partnership is “not backdoor restitution”, meaning it is not a way of returning permanent ownership to Ghana.

The three-year loan agreement, with the option to extend for another three years, is not with the Ghanaian government but with Otumfo Osei Tutu II – the current Asante king known as Asantehene – who attended the coronation of King Charles last year .

The Asantehene continues to play an influential ceremonial rolealthough his kingdom is now part of the modern democracy of Ghana.

The items will be displayed at the Manhyia Palace Museum in Kumasi, the capital of the Asante region, to celebrate the silver jubilee of the Asantehene.

The gold artifacts are the supreme symbol of royal rule and are believed to be invested with the spirits of ancient Asante kings.

They have an importance to Ghana comparable to that of the Benin Bronzes: thousands of sculptures and plaques looted by Britain from the palace of the Benin Kingdom, in what is now southern Nigeria.

Nigeria has been calling for his return for decades.

Nana Oforiatta Ayim, special advisor to Ghana’s culture minister, told the BBC: “They are not just objects, they also have spiritual importance. They are part of the soul of the nation. “They are pieces of ourselves coming back.”

He said the loan was “a good starting point” on the anniversary of the looting and “a sign of some kind of healing and commemoration of the violence that took place.”

A formidable kingdom

UK museums hold many more items from Ghanaincluding a gold trophy head that is among the most famous pieces of Asante regalia.

The Asante built what was once one of the most powerful and formidable states in West Africa, trading, among others, in gold, textiles and slaves.

The kingdom was famous for its military power and wealth.

Even now, when the Asantehene shakes hands on official occasions, he may be so burdened with heavy gold bangles that he sometimes has a helper whose job is to hold your arm.

Europeans were attracted to what they later called the Gold Coast because of stories of African wealth and Britain fought repeated battles with the Asante in the 19th century.

In 1874, following an attack by the Asante, British troops launched a “punitive expedition”, in the colonial parlance of the time, sacking Kumasi and taking away many of the palace’s treasures.

Most of the items returned by the V&A were purchased at auction on 18 April 1874 at Garrards, the London jewelers who maintain the British Crown Jewels.

They include three heavy cast gold objects known as soulwashing badges (Akrafokonmu), worn around the necks of high-ranking court officials responsible for cleansing the king’s soul.

Angus Patterson, senior curator at the V&A, said taking these items in the 19th century was “not simply to acquire wealth, but also a way of removing symbols of government or authority.”

“It was a very political act”.

The British Museum will return on loan some objects looted during a later conflict of 1895-96, including a state sword known as the Mpomponsuo.

In addition there is a ceremonial cap, known as Denkyemke, richly decorated with gold ornaments, which high-ranking courtiers wore at coronations and other important festivals.

The British Museum is also lending a cast gold lute-harp (sankuo) model, which was not looted, to highlight its nearly 200-year connection with the Asantehenes.

The sankuo was received by the British writer and diplomat Thomas Bowdich in 1817, who said that it was a gift from the Asantehene to the museum to demonstrate the wealth and status of the Asante nation.

Some kind of solution

But Can you lend items to a country that says you stole them?

It is a solution to the UK’s legal restrictions that may not be acceptable to countries that say they want to right a historic wrong.

The affair of the Parthenon Sculptures, or Elgin Marbles, as they were called in the United Kingdom, is the best-known example.

Greece has long demanded the return of these classical sculptures displayed in the British Museum.

And the trust’s chairman, George Osborne, recently said he was looking for a “practical, pragmatic and rational way forward” and exploring a partnership that would essentially avoid the question of who actually owns the classical sculptures.

This agreement with the Asantehene is another version of that; a compromise that works for the Asante king and is possible within the parameters of British law.

Just as Nigeria was unlikely to accept a loan from the Benin Bronzes, it would have been difficult for the Ghanaian government to accept this type of deal.

But Hunt said the agreements between the V&A, the British Museum and the Manhyia Palace Museum “They don’t solve the problem, but they start the conversation“.

Oforiatta Ayim, advisor to Ghana’s culture minister, however, said “of course” people will be shocked by the idea of ​​a loan and that he hopes the items will eventually be permanently returned to Ghana.

“We know that the objects were stolen in violent circumstances, we know that they belong to the Asante people,” he declared.

The British government has a “hold and explain” stance for state institutions, which means that disputed objects are preserved and their context explained.

Neither the Conservative nor Labor parties have expressed any interest in changing the current legislation.

The British Museum Act 1963 and the National Heritage Act 1983 prevent museum managers at some high-profile institutions from “de-accessioning” items from their collections.

Hunt advocates for a change in the law. He would like museums to have “more freedom, but also a kind of safeguard, a committee that we would have to appeal to if we wanted to return objects.”

Some have expressed concern that this means British museums will lose some of their most prized items in the future.

Or, as a former Culture Secretary, Michelle Donelan, told me in relation to the return of the Parthenon sculptures, that “open the way to question the entire content of our museums”.

But Hunt pointed out that the ownership of very few of the 2.8 million items in the V&A’s collection has been questioned.

For a better future

Another fear is that disputed items that are loaned will never be returned..

Ghana’s chief negotiator, Ivor Agyeman-Duah, dismissed that claim. “You stick to the agreements you have, you don’t go against them,” he said.

There are other beautiful Asante gold items in the UK.

The Wallace Collection includes the trophy head, which is among the most famous Asante treasures. It was also taken by British forces and purchased at the 1874 auction.

The Royal Collection also houses objects, including another gold trophy head in the form of a mask. This type of object represented defeated enemies; The trophies were attached by a ring to ceremonial swords with state insignia.

Will they ever be exhibited in Ghana in the future? Agyeman-Duah is taking it one step at a time.

But as Britain increasingly confronts the cultural legacy of its colonial past, These types of agreements can be a diplomatic and practical way to address the past and create better relationships in the future.…

…if both parties can accept the terms.