The Kingdom of Dahomey - a Historical Page of the Benin Heritage at the Quai Branly Museum Cover Image

Le Royaume de Dahomey, une page d’histoire du patrimoine béninois au Musée du Quai Branly
The Kingdom of Dahomey - a Historical Page of the Benin Heritage at the Quai Branly Museum

Author(s): Luciana Florentina Ghindă
Subject(s): Cultural history
Published by: Centrul de Istorie Comparată a Societăților Antice
Keywords: patrimony; Kingdom of Dahomey; restitution; trophy of war; UNESCO;

Summary/Abstract: In 2016, the Benin government expresses the request in an official letter to the French state to return the royal objects belonging to the Kingdom of Dahomey (XVII-XIXth century), taken as "trophy of war " in 1892 following its conquest by French general Alfred Dodds. At the beginning of March 2017, the French Ministry of Foreign Affairs gave an unfavorable response to the request for the return of Benin heritage, motivating the fact that France ratified the UNESCO Convention in 1970. According to the law, these are already part of the French public domain subject to the principles of inalienability. For the present study, an ax will be led to bring into discussion the conventions of the internationals organizations regarding cultural goods, and also on the analysis of press articles.

  • Issue Year: 2017
  • Issue No: III
  • Page Range: 89-96
  • Page Count: 8
  • Language: French