By RFIPalled on 04-07-2019Modified on 04-07-2019 at 22:43
Paris hosted this Thursday, July 4, a Forum on African Heritage to reflect on a new cooperation. And not only in terms of restoration of African archeological sites, but also restitution, like the 26 works of art taken war, that President Macron had committed to return to Benin. A thorny issue, but symbolic for the continent's conservatives. This is one more step towards the return of these works of art in Benin.
127 years after seeing part of its heritage torn by the French General Alfred Dodds, Benin could soon see these 26 works of art. Franck Riester opened this Forum on African Heritage, saying that France was still working on this return. It could even intervene before the Parliament validates it, before any vote of a law.
Pending the examination of a text in Parliament, said the Minister of Culture, " these 26 works must be able to be seen, admired and studied in Benin ".
"Our museums are the messengers of the universal. We must rethink our relationship with the African continent that is why 26 works reported
by General Dodds in 1898 after the
Dahomey campaign and kept at
Quai Branly will be returned to Benin "@franckriester pic.twitter.com/aO3rhzBF1I
This restitution promised by Emmanuel Macron could finally materialize, more than seven months after the announcement. At the time, many collectors had rebelled, worrying about the possible end of the presence of African art in French museums. An important presence since public museums alone gather no less than 90,000 objects of art from sub-Saharan Africa. That's not counting the works that are in private museums.
From the outset, the minister was reassuring. The State, he stressed, has " no vocation to take restrictive measures concerning the African heritages held in private hands, nor to limit the circulation or the commerce ".
José Pliya, director general of the Beninese Agency for Heritage Promotion and Tourism Development, asked that this restitution not be done in haste.
José Pliya, Director General of the Beninese Agency for Heritage Promotion and Tourism Development
04-07-2019 - By RFI
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