In a decision with potential ramifications across European museums, France is displaying 26 looted colonial-era artifacts for one last time before returning them home to Benin.
The wooden anthropomorphic statues, royal thrones and sacred altars were pilfered by the French army in the 19th century from western Africa. The French will have a final glimpse of the objects, from the collection known as the "Abomey Treasures," in the Musee du quai Branly--Jacques Chirac from Tuesday through Sunday.
So far, however, France has only turned over one item -- a storied sword handed to the Army Museum in Senegal. And the 26 works going to Benin represent a tiny handful of the more than 90,000 artifacts from sub-Saharan Africa alone held in French museums. French Culture Minister Roselyne Bachelot tried to assuage jitters among European museums, emphasizing that this initiative "will not create a legal precedent."
But she said that the French government's law was intentionally specific in applying solely to the 27 artifacts. " does not establish any general right to restitution" and "in no way calls into question" the right of French museums to hold on to their heritage.
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