Posted in: 10/27/2021 – 17:38

France acted, Wednesday 27 October, 26 works of the royal treasures of Abomey return to Benin, now preserved in the Quai Branly Museum. President Emmanuel Macron went there to attend the restoration ceremony.

Royal statues, wooden doors and dance sticks, and valuable testimonies of the kingdom that reigned in the 18th and 19th centuries over what is now southern Benin, are among the 26 works that France returned to their country of origin.

During his speech at the Quai Branly Museum, the President insisted in front of many political and cultural representatives of Benin.

“Returning African youth to access their heritage”

Emmanuel Macron also referred to one of the main objectives of the restoration process, which is to “return African youth to access their heritage”. “All young people need to amend their country’s history to build a better future,” he added.

The president also insisted on the long process of returning artworks in Benin.

This refund is the result of a request by several associations, from Benin President Patrice Talon, and a law passed in 2020, in France, allowing businesses to be returned from one country to another.

The French President pledged on November 28, 2017, at Ki-Zerbo University in Ouagadougou, to make conditions available within 5 years for the temporary or permanent restoration of African heritage in France.

This ceremony was held as a continuation of the Franco-African Summit, which was organized on October 8 in Montpellier, in the presence of President Emmanuel Macron, and African youth representing civil society, where the issue of France’s response to African heritage was raised. . Therefore, the resale of these works to Benin is an important sign for building the new relations that the French government intends to establish with the African continent.