This was an interesting question posed by Dr Errol Francis, a director of an Arts charity who is hoping that the BLM movement not only pushes to have statues of slave owners removed but also demand the return of Africa’s historical cultural heritage.
Today up to 90% of Sub-Saharan Africa’s material cultural legacy is outside of the continent, according to the French government-commissioned 2018 report by Senegalese economist FelwineSarr and French historian Bénédicte Savoy. The report called for the restitution of Africa’s stolen assets highlighting that most of these were looted by European colonial powers, stolen during ethnographic missions or acquired under very questionable conditions.
While the public debate has mostly focused on African art, repatriation encompasses various elements of African cultural heritage. This includes art and archives, ceremonial objects, human remains, natural history specimens, and intangible cultural heritage like sound recordings and photographs. The best-case scenario figure for the number of artifacts any national museum archives in Sub Saharan Africa is 3,000—and even then, most of them are of little importance or significance when compared to those in European museums.
| How many African artifacts are in Europe’s top museums? | |
| Museum | No. |
| Musee Royale de l’Afrique Centrale, Belgium | 180,000 |
| Humboldt Forum, Germany | 75,000 |
| Musée du Quai Branly Jacques Chirac, France | 70,000 |
| British Museum | 69,000 |
| Weltmuseum of Vienna, Austria | 37,000 |
This situation can be left to continue and we must use the voice w have know to demand that colonial pillaging of Africa, is theft pure and simple and these valuable artefacts have to be returned home preferably with an apology.
