The United Kingdom’s British Museum (BM) and the Victoria and Albert Museum (V&A), yesterday returned to Ghana 32 negotiated royal objects, taken from the Manhyia Palace in Kumasi during the Anglo-Asante Wars of the 19th century, including items seized following the Sargrenti War of 1874.
Gold and Silver regalia among other items associated with Asante Royal Court, would be displayed at the Palace Museum, as part of a long-term loan commitment by the British Museum and V&A Museum.
The 150-year-old items, mostly golden royal regalia, on loan for an initial three years and renewable for another three, have 15 items from the BM and 17 from the V&A.
The arrival of the items in Ghana followed the final signing of official documentations, in London, two weeks ago by the Directors of the BM and V&A, Sir Mark Jones and Dr Tristram Hunt and the Chief Negotiator, Mr Ivor Agyeman-Duah, who represented and signed on behalf of the Manhyia Palace.
The return of the royal objects is in the context of the silver jubilee celebration of the enthronement of the Asantehene, Otumfuo Osei Tutu II, who first opened the negotiations in May, 2023.
It is connected to the 150th commemoration of last February and the impending centenary of the return of the Asantehene Prempeh I from exile in Seychelles.
Otumfuo Osei Tutu II would receive the objects and the specially designed Belgian cases, in Kumasi.
The subsequent closure of the Manhyia Palace Museum for three weeks would be for installation works and encasing of over 40 returned objects, including seven that have already been permanently released by the Fowler Museum of the University of California, at Los Angeles.
These would collectively constitute the star objects of an international exhibition that would be opened to the public, Homecoming- Adversity and Commemoration.
The exhibition is being organised by a team of British-BM and V&A and Ghanaian -the Foundation for Contemporary Art curators, Manhyia Palace and in partnership with Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology (KNUST), the British Airways, British High Commission, Accra, Fidelity Bank and the Otumfuo Foundation.
The opening by the Asantehene on May 1, 2024 would be attended by directors, curators and trustees of the BM and V&A from London as well as journalists and photographers from the BBC, Reuters, Aljazeera, The Daily Telegraph, The Art Newspaper, leading figures of Government of Ghana, UNESCO and members of the diplomatic community.
The occasion would also see the outdooring of two major books, a history of 200 years of museology in Asante titled, A History of Manhyia Palace Museum- Inaugural and Other Objects written by Agyeman-Duah with a foreword provided by Gus Casely- Hayford OBE, Director of V&A East, and previously Director of the Smithsonian National Museum of African Art in Washington, DC.
The other book is on contemporary reflections on Images of Ghana- Museums, the Ownership of Cultural Property and Restitution by former Keeper of Ethnography at the British Museum and Vice Principal of the University of Glasgow, UK, Prof. Malcolm McLeod.
The Asantehene would give a major public lecture on Asante Culture and Heritage- Past and Present, on the platform of the BM in London, in July 2024; as part of an evolving cooperation in international cultures, mutual technical and business development.
The BM and V&A selected world leading Anglo-Ghanaian philosopher of New York University and the Laurance S. Rockefeller Emeritus, University Professor of Philosophy at Princeton University, Kwame Anthony Appiah to introduce the occasion and lecture. Appiah is also the current President of the American Academy of Arts and Letters.
BY TIMES REPORTER
