The Brutish Museums: the Benin Bronzes, colonial violence and cultural restitution
- Title
- The Brutish Museums: the Benin Bronzes, colonial violence and cultural restitution
- Creator
- Dan Hicks
- Publisher
- Pluto Press
- Date
- 2021
- Description
-
Few artifacts embody this history of rapacious and extractive colonialism better than the Benin Bronzes--a collection of thousands of metal plaques and sculptures depicting the history of the Royal Court of the Obas of Benin City, Nigeria. Pillaged during a British naval attack in 1897, the loot was passed on to Queen Victoria, the British Museum, and countless private collections.
The Brutish Museums sits at the heart of a heated debate about cultural restitution, repatriation, and the decolonization of museums. Since its first publication, museums across the western world have begun to return their Bronzes to Nigeria, heralding a new era in the way we understand the objects of empire we once took for granted.