The artefacts that we know today as the Benin Bronzes
are the cultural heritage of the Kingdom of Benin and its capital, Benin City,
which is today in Edo State in Southern Nigeria.
The best known are probably the commemorative heads,
or Uhumnwun Elao.
These are portrait heads that represented the Oba
or Divine King of Benin,
and the Eoba or the Queen Mother,
and they would have been part of royal shrines to ancestors
that were dotted throughout the royal palaces in Benin City.
As well as materialising the history of the Kingdom of Benin
and their elaborate cultural and social life,
the bronzes are also of exceptional artistic significance
and extraordinary technical feats of brass casting.
In February 1897,
a British-led force known as the Punitive Expedition,
or later, the Benin expedition, sacked the city and its royal palace.
Thousands of artefacts were looted and taken back to England,
where they were sold, entering the collections of museums
across Europe and across the world, including here in Cambridge.
Artefacts looted from Benin City in 1897 came to Cambridge from several sources.
Some were donated to the museum
by families of participants in the Benin Expedition.
Most were purchased from dealers such as J.C. Stevens of London,
whose major sale in June 1902 was explicitly advertised
as a sale of items seized during the Benin Expedition.
Others came from William Downing Webster, a London-based dealer
who effectively cornered the market in Benin artefacts in the late 1890s
and early 1900s, selling bronzes to dozens of museums across Europe.
The Museum of Archeology and Anthropology cares
for approximately 470 objects from Benin City, although the vast
majority of those were collected later in the 20th century.
We have so far identified 116 objects that we believe
to have been taken in the violent military action of February 1897.
The Museum of Archeology and Anthropology
has had policies in place for decades around the repatriation of our artefacts.
A few years ago, we realised as public interest in these questions mounted,
we really needed to look again at that policy,
to think carefully about a policy that was right for the 21st century.
The framework
and, I think, the view of the University, the understanding of colleagues,
is that where artefacts have been acquired under these circumstances, where
communities in nations of origin
are calling for the return of material and where we know
there is a strong public interest and a strong institutional framework
for material to be returned, we will be supportive of that.
Back in March 2017,
we had a landmark meeting here in Cambridge of the Benin Dialogue Group,
and that meeting effectively restarted a longstanding discussion
between the leaders of European museums
and the Benin Court, the community
and the national government in Nigeria.
Since then, things have gained momentum in a
tremendously positive, collaborative way.
Above all, in a spirit of collaboration.
And that has led to more focused and more intensive discussion
about the development of new museum facilities in Benin City,
but also, most concretely, about return, about the transfer of ownership.
And that process led to a submission
that was received here in Cambridge in January 2022.
That submission was then carefully considered by relevant University bodies
and finally approved by the Council of the University.
Everyone I've spoken to across Cambridge
feels that this is the right thing to do and the right time to do it.
So there are over 20 objects on display from Benin City
in the museum at the moment, but they're not just there to be stared at.
Benin is central to a lot of the learning provision
that we offer for schools and community groups.
They’re central to widening participation work as well.
They are in many ways really living part of our educational offer.
We're very pleased that some of the Benin artefacts from this museum
will be displayed in the landmark exhibition on Legacies of Enslavement
that will open at the Fitzwilliam Museum in 2023.
There's a widespread recognition in the museum sector, and beyond
that these artefacts should be returned to Benin City.
There's been a lot of work that's gone on
with the Benin Dialogue Group, about finding new ways for this to happen.
But we're all really, really excited that these objects
are now returning to Benin City.
That we have an opportunity to reset relationships.
We have an opportunity to find new ways of engaging with the entangled collections
and entangled histories that unite us all.
And to find new ways forward,
new ways of telling these stories
and new ways of working together.