Call to return ‘looted treasure’
trading partners, countries we want to have good relationships with and financially beneficial relationships with. ‘‘If the world is pivoting to Asia, if our relationships with the Commonwealth after Brexit are going to be more important . . . they remember the things that were taken. There are senses of loss in those countries. It’s beneficial to us to listen to those appeals.’’
Olusoga cited treasures taken from the Summer Palace in Beijing in 1850 by Lord Elgin’s sons. ‘‘The Chinese have an enormous ministry investigating those objects, trying to repatriate them, because everyone in school in China is taught about the fact that the British and the French burned down one of the greatest palaces in all of Asia,’’ he said. He also joined the chorus of voices calling for the Elgin Marbles to be returned to Greece.
In Civilisations, which he presented with Simon Schama and Mary Beard, Olusoga drew attention to the Benin Bronzes, looted by the British in 1897. More than 4000 objects were seized and dispersed among Western institutions, including the British Museum. The historian, son of a David Olusoga
Nigerian father and white British mother, said he had grown up visiting the bronzes and had an emotional attachment to them.
‘‘I think it’s a very, very clear case of appropriation and theft,’’ Olusoga said. ‘‘They were taken in 1897 during the raid on the Palace of Benin. The palace was destroyed, they were taken and then sold to pay for the cost of the military adventure. Everyone was open about this – steal this stuff, send it to pay for the bullets.
‘‘These are Nigeria’s national treasures. The idea that your national treasures would be in the museum of another country is something that as British people we would find impossible to get our heads around. But that’s what Nigerians have to think about.’’
He praised the British Museum for being open about the history of objects in its collection, with labels often explaining how they were acquired.
But he added: ‘‘When countries demand the return of those treasures and we say, well, that’s history, it’s all over – how long is that going to be sustainable for?’’ - Telegraph Group