129-year journey nears end as France returns Benin treasures

By SYLVIE CORBET and THOMAS ADAMSON
Associated Press

PARIS (AP) — France is displaying 26 looted colonial-era artifacts for one last time before returning them home to Benin. The wooden anthropomorphic statues, royal thrones and sacred altars were pilfered by the French army in the 19th century from Western Africa. President Emmanuel Macron suggested in 2017 that France now needed to right the wrongs of the past. It laid down a roadmap for the controversial return of the royal treasures taken during the era of empire and colony. The French will have a final glimpse of the objects to be shown in the Musée du quai Branly–Jacques Chirac from 26-31 October.