Comment on A rare piece of plundered art sits in the Denver Art Museum. Should the museum give it back?

A rare piece of plundered art sits in the Denver Art Museum. Should the museum give it back?

British troops in 1897 mounted a violent, retaliatory raid on the Kingdom of Benin, in what’s now southern Nigeria, looting and burning the royal palace and sending the oba, or king, into exile. The British confiscated all the royal treasures from their colonial subjects, giving some to officers but taking most to a London auction to help pay for the expedition. Those rare “Benin Bronzes” over the past century were dispersed to hundreds of institutions around the world — including the Denver Art Museum, where a 16th- or 17th-century bronze plaque is one of 11 items in the museum’s collection originating from the former Kingdom of Benin. Courtesy of the Denver Art MuseumThe royal palace of the oba or king of Benin was adorned with hundreds of elaborately ornamented plaques, such as this one.

 

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