The colonizing troops broke into the Abomey Palace, home of King Behanzin, seizing as they did many royal objects including the 26 artifacts that Dodds donated to the MusГ©e dвЂ™Ethnographie du TrocadГ©ro in Paris in the 1890s.

In November 1892, Colonel Alfred Dodds led a pilfering French expeditionary force into the Kingdom of DanhomГЁ located in the south of present-day Benin. The story of the вЂњAbomey TreasuresвЂќ is as dramatic as their sculpted forms. вЂњ(It) does not establish any general right to restitutionвЂќ and вЂњin no way calls into questionвЂќ the right of French museums to hold on to their heritage. The British Museum said Monday it is working on a collaboration with Nigeria, linked to the construction of a new museum in the West African country, which will allow to вЂњreunite Benin artworks from international collections.вЂќДЇrench Culture Minister Roselyne Bachelot tried to assuage jitters among European museums, emphasizing that this initiative вЂњwill not create a legal precedent.вЂќДЄ French law was passed last year to allow the restitution of the statues to Benin, and of the sword to Senegal.Д«ut she said that the French governmentвЂ™s law was intentionally specific in applying solely to the 27 artifacts. Many are made up of objects acquired during colonial times. Yet critics of such moves - including LondonвЂ™s British Museum, in a decades-long tug-of-war with the Greek government over a restitution of the Elgin, or Parthenon, Marbles - argue that it will open the floodgates to emptying Western museums of their collections. These were looted from the royal palace of the Kingdom of Benin, in what is now southern Nigeria, by a British colonial expedition in 1897.

The decision was taken that German museums should work on a restitution plan to return to Nigeria artifacts known as the Benin Bronzes next year.

вЂњI think it would be decent that other countries which hold African artefacts take the same path as France,вЂќ he added.Д®arlier this year, Germany started a similar move. IвЂ™d say we are at the beginning of a process,вЂќ Biah said. There are others, no? So I wouldnвЂ™t say that we are ending a process. And the 26 works going to Benin represent a tiny handful of the more than 90,000 artifacts from sub-Saharan Africa alone held in French museums. So far, however, France has only turned over one item - a sword handed to the Army Museum in Senegal. President Emmanuel Macron suggested that France now needed to right the wrongs of the past, making a landmark speech in 2017 in which he said he can no longer accept вЂњthat a large part of many African countriesвЂ™ cultural heritage lies in France.вЂќ It laid down a roadmap for the return of the royal treasures taken during the era of empire and colony. And when you look at the quality of each of these artifacts altogether, you realize that вЂ¦ there were great artists,вЂќ he told The Associated Press.Д«enin is founding a new museum in Abomey, partly funded by the French government, that will ultimately house the works. вЂњItвЂ™s been more than one century that they have been removed from their historical context. The French will have a final glimpse of the objects, from the collection known as the вЂњAbomey Treasures,вЂќ in the MusГ©e du quai BranlyвЂ“Jacques Chirac from Tuesday through Sunday.Д¬alixte Biah, curator of the Museum of History of Ouidah, Benin, where the artefacts will first be exhibited, said the occasion was historic. The wooden anthropomorphic statues, royal thrones and sacred altars were pilfered by the French army 129 years ago. PARIS (AP) - In a move with potential ramifications for other European museums, France is displaying 26 looted colonial-era artifacts for one last time before returning them to Benin - a decision authorities in the West African country described as вЂњhistoric.вЂќ

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