France Finally Returns Skull of African King After Years of Being Kept in Museum
- France has returned three human skulls to Madagascar, including one believed to be that of King Toera, 128 years after they were looted during colonial rule
- The handover marks the first restitution of human remains under a new French law passed in 2023
- Madagascar hailed the return as a powerful step toward healing historical wounds inflicted during colonisation
France has formally returned three human skulls to Madagascar, including one believed to belong to King Toera, who was decapitated by French troops during the colonial era. The remains had been held at a Paris museum for 128 years.
The handover ceremony took place on Tuesday at the French Ministry of Culture, where officials from both nations gathered to mark the solemn occasion.
Source: Twitter
French Minister of Culture Rachida Dati stated that the skulls had entered national collections “in circumstances that clearly violated human dignity and in a context of colonial violence.”
The skulls, including two others from the Sakalava ethnic group, were looted during France’s colonisation of Madagascar and stored at Paris’s national history museum. King Toera was reportedly beheaded by French forces in 1897 during a massacre of local people, with his skull taken to France as a trophy.
Video footage from the event showed three boxes draped in traditional Madagascan cloth being carried in a ceremonial procession through the ornate halls of the Culture Ministry.
Madagascar welcomes repatriation of ancestral remains
Madagascan Minister of Culture Volamiranty Donna Mara described the return as a moment of healing, saying the removal of the skulls had been “an open wound in the heart of our island” for more than a century.
“They are not collectors’ items; they are the invisible and indelible link that unites our present to our past,” she added.
A joint scientific committee confirmed that the skulls belonged to the Sakalava people, though it could only “presume” that one was King Toera’s, according to Dati.
The repatriation marks the first return of human remains under a new French law passed in 2023, aimed at facilitating the restitution of artefacts acquired during colonial rule.
Global calls for restitution grow
France’s Musee de l’Homme currently holds around 30,000 specimens, a third of which are skulls and skeletons from across the globe.
Countries such as Australia and Argentina have also submitted formal requests for the return of ancestral remains.
During a visit to Antananarivo in April, French President Emmanuel Macron acknowledged the “bloody and tragic” nature of France’s colonisation of Madagascar and expressed a desire for “forgiveness.”
Source: Getty Images
Nigeria's ancient Benin Bronze treasures go digital
Legit.ng earlier reported that Nigeria's famed Benin bronzes -- artefacts stolen during British colonial rule and scattered across the globe -- have a new online archive that aims to become a digital record of the treasures.
Thousands of 16th to 18th century metal plaques, sculptures and objects were looted from the ancient Kingdom of Benin and ended up in museums and with art collectors across the US and Europe. Many experts hail them as the zenith of African art.
Source: Legit.ng
