A museum in California, United States, has returned seven royal artefacts looted 150 years ago from Ghana’s traditional Ashanti King to commemorate his silver jubilee anniversary on Thursday.
The return of the artefacts was the first phase of planned handovers of Ashanti treasures looted during colonial times.
The handover of the artefacts follows pressure being put on European and US museums and institutions to repatriate African artefacts stolen during the rule of former colonial powers, Britain, France, Germany and Belgium.
The royal Ashanti artefacts were held at the Fowler Museum of the University of California Los Angeles (UCLA) and were returned to the King at his Manhyia Palace in Kumasi.
According to media report on the return, the king of Ghana’s traditional Asante kingdom, the Asantehene Otumfuo Osei Tutu II, “received the seven royal artefacts that were looted from the kingdom nearly 150 years ago.”
“They include a gold necklace, an ornamental chair, two gold stool ornaments and two bracelets.
“Also in the list are An elephant tail whisk, which is a ceremonial piece that is held by someone of incredibly high status.
“The items have been hosted at Fowler Museum since 1965, but were looted by British forces from the Asantehene’s Manhyia Palace in the city of Kumasi, southern Ghana, in 1874.
“The return of the items comes less than two weeks after the UK’s British Museum and Victoria and Albert Museum loaned back 32 items that had been looted from the kingdom, mostly in the 19th Century”, it added.