The Museum of West African Art Archaeology Project.

The city of Benin in southern Nigeria (not to be confused with the modern Benin) formed the capital of the Kingdom of Benin (or Edo) between about 1200 AD and 1897, when it was sacked and burned by a 'Punitive Expedition' led by Admiral Sir Harry Rawson. Following this event, loot taken from the city was sold by the officers involved to museums across Europe and North America, a group of artefacts known collectively as 'Benin Bronzes' due to the large amount of exquisite bronze-ware among the collections, although the term is used to refer to all looted items from this period, regardless of the material from which they were manufactured.

Gaining the return of these artefacts has been a long term goal for many people in Benin, and indeed Nigeria and the Nigerian diaspora, and many (though not all) western museums have agreed to return objects from their collections. To this end, in 2020 architect Sir David Adjaye was commissioned to design a museum in Benin to house those artefacts, a museum due to open on 11 November 2025, as the Museum of West African Art.

An aerial view of the new Museum of West African Art in Benin, Nigeria. Museum of West African Art.

The museum has been built on a site previously occupied by a hospital built in the 1970s, and before that a police barracks from the early twentieth century. Before this, the area had been a part of the historic Palace Complex of Benin, with the clearing and excavation of this site for foundations creating the opportunity for the first major archaeological excavation in Benin for over 50 years.

To this end, the Museum of West African Art Archaeological Project was set up as a collaborative project between the Museum of West African Art, the British Museum, the National Commission for Museums and Monuments, the Cambridge Archaeological Unit, and Wessex Archaeology. This project involved the training and employment of ten early-career Nigerian archaeologists, who were given the opportunity to undertake placements in London, Cambridge and Cyprus, as well as 58 additional fieldwork roles.

In a paper published in the journal Antiquity on 23 October 2025, Caleb Folorunso of the Museum of West African Art and the University of Ibadan, Sam Nixon of the Department of Africa, Oceania and Americas at the British Museum, Segun Opadeji, also of the Museum of West African Art, Abidemi Babalola, also of the Department of Africa, Oceania and Americas at the British Museum, Charles Le Quesne, again of the Museum of West African Art, Anna Adamu of the National Commission for Museums and Monuments, Marcus Brittain and Matthew Brudenell, of the Cambridge Archaeological Unit at the University of Cambridge, and Chris Breeden of Wessex Archaeology, present the initial results of the archaeological work at the Museum of West African Art site.

Wider site context: (a) map of Museum of West African Art  Campus and excavation zones within Benin City; (b) Rainforest Gallery excavations in foreground and Institute building top left. Folorunso et al. (2025).

A series of pits at the site reached a maximum depth of 3.0 m, with straitified cultural layers reaching to depths of between 1.45 and 1.60 m. The oldest radiocarbon dates obtained came from the first millennium AD, although these were below any cultural layer. The main settlement layers begin in the mid fourteenth century, progress through a peak cultural stage in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, recording the palace through to its destruction in 1897, and above this layers associated with the colonial police barracks and post-colonial hospital.

Map showing excavation locations. Folorunso et al. (2025).

The area excavated covered a large portion of the former complex, including the 'wives quarter' or erie, a zone formerly occupied by a number of shrines, as well as a number of other buildings recorded on nineteenth century maps. A number of walls and floors from the earliest phases of occupation were excavated and examined, with final phase, eighteenth and nineteenth century buildings following the same axis as earlier buildings, implying a continuity in urban planning. The wives quarter was surrounded by a substantial earthen wall and a large wooden gate, close to which was a 5 m pit, which may have served as a source of building material.

Plan of structural complex (upper levels) excavated in Area 4 highlighting key areas of interest: (1) & (3) moulded chalk (nzu) arrangements; (2) arranged inverted pots; (4) oven feature and associated pottery; (5) cowries in complete pot; (6) inverted pot; (7) chalk spread; (8) pottery spread and bottles. Folorunso et al. (2025).

The large excavated building contained substantial evidence of ritual activities at the site, including upturned pots, caches of Cowrie shells (also in pots), and moulded chalk arrangements, and is interpreted to have been a shrine. This building also contained over 100 glass bottles, most of which appear to have contained gin, with trade marks such as Africana, Van Hoytema, and Van Marken. These were found alongside Giant Snail shells and quantities of iron, making it likely that they were offerings at a shrine.

Stratigraphy in Area 5: structural levels 1–7 (a)–(c) and work in progress (d)–(e). Folorunso et al. (2025).

The excavations also uncovered evidence of artisanal activity, including pits containing charcoal and traces of metal slag, thought to date from the nineteenth century. Also found were pieces of crucibles and fragments of copper alloys, although these are still under investigation. Over 120 000 pieces of pottery and ceramics were unearthed, including imported glazed wares, although most were of local origin. Other finds included smoking pipes, beads, glass bottles and metal objects. The ceramic fragments appear to represent a sequence, which has the potential to be developed and applied to other sites, although this is also still being worked on. Plant remains include crops such as Oil Palm, Pearl Millet, Cotton, and Foxtail Millet. Many pollen samples have also been collected, which in combination have the potential to shed light on changing agricultural practices and diet over the history of the site.

Selected material culture: (a) metallurgy; (b) other finds. Folorunso et al. (2025).

Post 1897 finds at the site include a European cemetery, believed to have been founded shortly after the fall of the city and now mapped for the first time. A building complex made from mud bricks with mortar, interpreted as a potential early governor's residence, and a cache of colonial era police regalia.

While the window of opportunity for excavations was short, and studies of the excavated material are still ongoing, the Museum of West African Art Archaeology Project is already the most comprehensive archaeological study of the City of Benin, providing new information on all eras including the Kingdom of Benin in the immediate pre-conquest phase and the early colonial period. The project has the potential to greatly improve our understanding of urbanism, architecture, artisanal practice, ritual, trade, diet and the environment of pre-colonial Nigeria. The work has the potential to help establish the Museum of West African Art as a new, world class, research centre.

The Museum of West African Art was due to open on 11 November 2025, however, that opening has now been delayed, following a series of protests at the site on Sunday 9 November. These protests centre around the ownership of artefacts within the museum, many of which were looted by the British military in 1897. Many local people believe that these artefacts should be returned to the Kingdom of Benin, and therefore be placed in the custody of the current traditional ruler of the city, His Royal Majesty, Omo N’Oba N’Edo, Uku Akpolokpolo, Oba Ewuare II (CFR), the Oba of Benin.

Protesters at the Museum of West African Art on Sunday 9 November 2025. Toyin Adedokun/AFP/Getty Images.

The Museum of West African Art is a Federal Nigerian institution, and the protesters felt that, in containing objects they associate with the traditional office of the Oba, the museum was falsely presenting itself as a royal institution. The museum itself insists that it does not own any of the objects within it, but merely acts as a repository, exhibition centre, and place of study. This enables it to hold artefacts which European institutions have only returned on 'permanent loan', as well as exhibitions of art from other countries, or modern artists.

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Two musuems in London agree to loan looted Asante items back to Ghana.

The British Museum and Victoria and Albert Museum in London have agreed to loan a series of artefacts, mostly looted from the Asante Kingdom in the nineteenth century, back to a museum in Kumasi, Ghana, for three years, to mark the Silver Jubilee of the current Asantehene (Asante King), Otumfuo Osei Tutu II. The loans come about following a visit to London by the Asantehene in 2023, in which he spoke to leaders at both museums, as well as the British King Charles III. National museums in the UK (including the British Museum and Victoria and Albert Museum) are currently banned from giving up ownership of objects, even where it is known their provenance is problematic, something which could only be changed by act of parliament (something the current British Prime Minister, Rishi Sunak, has stated he is opposed to doing). However, the leadership of both museums have expressed that they would not object to the loan of the objects being extended beyond three years.

Asante ceremonial cap ('denkyemkye') made of antelope hide and featuring antelope fur alongside twenty gold-covered ornaments (with wood cores) and cockle shells. Looted from the royal palace, Kumasi, by British forces during the Anglo-Asante War, 1895–6. This formed part of official government loot. British Museum.

The oldest item in the British Museum's collection, and one of the items being loaned to Ghana, is a small gold ornament in the form of a lute-harp (sankuo), which was presented to the British diplomat Thomas Bowdich by the Asantehene Osei Bonsu during trade negotiations in 1817. Bowdich reported that the Asantehene intended the item for the British Museum, where it could serve to represent the wealth and status of the Asante nation.

A small gold ornament in the form of a lute-harp (sankuo), presented to the  British diplomat Thomas Bowdich in 1817. British Museum.

The rest of the items in the collections have a darker history. In 1874 the British Army invaded the Asante Kingdom, following a dispute over the ownership of the Port of Elmina, sacked Kumasi, deposed the Asantehene Kofi Karikari, and forced him to pay 'indemnity' for the cost of invading his kingdom. The British Museum acquired three separate collections of artefacts known or believed to have been taken during the campaign of 1974. The first of these was a collection of 24 items obtained from the London goldsmiths R & S Garrard & Co., who had been appointed to sell items surrendered in indemnity by Kofi Karikari. A further 89 items were obtained from the Crown Agents for the Colonies in 1876, although it is unclear whether these were taken as 'indemnity' or simply looted.  In the same year, two Asante items were obtained from Phillips Brothers, another goldsmiths, again with no clear history.

Silver-gilt dish, made by Garrard's, London, in 1874, containing in the centre an Asante star-shaped pendant made of gold that inspired the European decoration around it. The gold pendant formed part of the gold indemnity forcibly extracted by British forces from the deposed Asantehene Kofi Karikari in 1874. An inscription on the back of the dish records that the Asante disc was 'a portion of the indemnity paid' by the Asante King to the British forces led by General Sir Garnet Wolseley. British Museum.

The Victoria and Albert Museum acquired thirteen items in an auction of gold looted by the British Army from Kumasi in 1874, all of which are thought to have been part of the Asante Royal Regalia. These include a gold peace pipe, three cast gold soul-washers’ badges, seven sections of sheet-gold ornament, a silver straining spoon, and a pair of silver anklets. Two further items were obtained separately, another section of sheet-gold ornament purchased from a military family in 1874, and another cast gold soul-washer’s badge purchased in 1883 from an unknown source. 

An Asante gold ornament, looted from Kumasi in 1874. Victoria and Albert Museum.

In 1895-1896, the British invaded Kumasi again, deposing the Asantehene Prempeh I, and forcing him to  sign over his kingdom to the 'protection' of the British Crown, and sending him into exile in the Seychelles with a number of senior Asante nobles. This military campaign was again associated with extensive looting. The British Museum received a collection of about 300 Asante objects from the Government of the Gold Coast (the colonial name for Ghana) following the 1896 confict, including silver and gold items, glass beads and amuletic jewellery. It is known that at least some of these items were looted, although the provenance of many items was not recorded.

Asante state sword (afena) with cast iron blade and carved wooden bar-bell-shaped hilt covered with gold leaf. Taken from the royal palace, Kumasi, by British forces during Anglo-Asante war, 1895–6, and formed part of official government loot. British Museum.

In 1900 the Governor of the Gold Coast, Sir Frederick Hodgson, demanded to be allowed to sit on the Golden Stool of the Asantehene during a visit to Kumasi. This object was (and is) considered sacred by the Asante people, with legend claiming that it was sent down from the heavens as a symbol of the authority of the Asantehene, and only the reigning Asantehene is allowed to touch it. Sir Frederick Hodgson's demand prompted an uprising in Kumasi led by the Queen Mother, Yaa Asantewaa. Although this was quickly put down and Yaa Asantewaa was sent into exile with her son.  Following this conflict the British Museum obtained a further 63 items from the Government of the Gold Coast, although many of these are thought to have been taken in 1896. These include several gold leaf-hilted state swords (afena), a ceremonial helmet with gold ornaments and amulets (denkyemkye), and a Mpomponsuo sword on which the Asantehene Prempeh I swore an oath to serve his people during his enstoolment ceremony.

Both the British Museum and Victoria and Alberst Museum subsequently obtained a number of smaller collections and individual items from private owners, either by sale or donation, including soldiers, colonial officials, mining engineers, and their families.

An Asante gold ring donated to the Victoria and Albert Museum in 1921 by Victor Ames, an art collector, who reported having bought the item in Venice. Victoria and Albert Museum.

The items will be displayed in the Manhyia Palace Museum in Kumasi, at an exhibition which marks the Silver Jubilee of the Enstoolment of the Asantehene Otumfuo Osei Tutu II, the 100th anniversary of the return of Asantehene Prempeh I to Kumasi following his exile to the Seychelles by the British, and the 150th anniversary of the looting of Kumasi in 1874.

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German museums agree to return Benin Bronzes to Nigeria.

A consortium of German museums has agreed to begin their holdings of Benin Bronzes to Nigeria. The Bronzes (which are in fact made of a variety of materials, including bronze, ivory, and wood), were looted during the sack of the Kingdom of Benin in what is now Nigeria in 1897, and subsequently found their way into private and museum collections around the world. Nigeria has been trying to secure the return of these artifacts for several decades, but museums and governments in western nations have been resilient to these attempts, claiming that the Bronzes would not be properly looked after in Nigeria. However, in the past decade high profile campaigns by Nigerian emigres in Europe and North America have raised awareness of the issue, and a purpose-build museum has been constructed in Benin to house returned artworks, the Edo Museum of West African Art, making it harder to justify the retention of the Bronzes in western museums, where they are often not on public display.

 

Benin Bronzes on display in the Museum für Kunst und Gewerbe in Hamburg, Germany. Daniel Bockwoldt/Picture Alliance /Getty Images.

The announcement comes as part of a wider German project to return objects looted during the colonial period to Africa, as a way of making some amends for an often-bloody colonial history. Around 1100 Benin artefacts are thought to be held in German museums, with about 530 in the Berlin Ethnological Museum alone. France has also recently begun to discuss the return of looted artefacts to Africa, in 2019 returning a sword that belonged to the nineteenth century religious and political leader El Haj Omar Tall to Senegal. French museums are thought to hold around 90 000 looted African artefacts, with 46 000 in the Quai Branly Museum in Paris alone. However, the majority of these objects come from former French colonies, with relatively few Benin Bronzes. The Netherlands has also announced plans to begin returning African treasures looted during the colonial period.

However, the majority of the known Benin Bronzes (many of these objects ended up in private collections, and there is no official record of the location of these) remain in the UK, where 45 different museums are known to hold artefacts from Benin, including 900 in the British Museum. The UK has no national plan to return such objects, although some individual museums have announced plans to return them. In March 2021 the University of Aberdeen announced plans to return a bronze statue looted from Benin, and Jesus College at the University of Cambridge has agreed to return a bronze cockeral to the city. The Horniman Museum in London is also thought to be considering such a move, as is the Pitt Rivers Museum in Oxford. Individual collectors have also returned some artefacts, most notably Mark Walker, the grandson of Captain Herbert Walker, one of the British soldiers involved in the original sack of the city of Benin, has returned objects held by his family and become a vocal advocate of a more general return.

 

Artifacts from Benin held in the collection of the Horniman Museum in London. Horniman Museum.

The Kingdom of Benin dates back to at least the twelth century, and covered much of what is now southwest Nigeria. The Oba (King) of Benin ruled from his capital, Edo, which (slightly confusingly) is now the modern city of Benin in Edo State, Nigeria. By the 1890s the Benin had become a major exporter of Palm oil to British traders on the Niger Delta, but in 1896, following a dispute over taxes, the Oba (King) of Benin cut off this supply of oil. The Acting Consul-General of the Protectorate of Nigeria, James Robert Phillips, drew up plans to invade the state and overthrow the Oba, but these were rejected by the British Foreign Secretary, Lord Salisbury. Instead, Philips dispatched an expedition to 'negotiate' with the Oba, which included 250 soldiers and a pipe band. This force was interpreted as an invasion by the Iyase (commander in chief of the army) of Benin, who dispatched a force to intercept the party. The two forces met at Ughoton, with the British force being defeated and the majority of its leaders either killed or captured.

This was used by Philips to justify a much larger 'punitive' expedition, under the command of Rear-Admiral Harry Rawson. On 9 February 1897 Rawson invaded Benin with a force of 1200 heavily armed soldiers and marines, with the city of Edo falling on 18 February. The city was subsequently lootied of its rich artwork, with individual soldiers, sailors and marines stripping not just the royal palaces and major temples of the city, but also smaller shrines and the homes of individual citizens. These artefacts were subsequently shipped back to the UK, and disposed of as their new owners saw fit, either being sold privately to museums or collectors, or retained as mementoes of the expedition. 

 

A bronze cockeral in the collection of Jesus College, Cambridge, that the college now plans to return to Benin. Chris Loades/Reuters.

This essentially random looting and subsequent sale of artefacts from Benin makes it very hard to know how many objects were taken, and renders almost impossible any hope of understanding the original context of many of the artefacts. This kind of haphazard looting was fairly typical of European colonial forces in Africa (and elsewhere), something which was made worse by subsequent claims that African peoples, now stripped of much of their herritage, actually lacked any meaningful history. While the events surrounding the looting of Benin and other African cities cannot be undone, it is hoped that the return of African artworks and cultural objects will at least go some way towards undoing the perception that Africans were not capable of making these artefacts in the first place.

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