Repatriation of Benin bronze
Dear Bristol City Council,
This is a request for information under the Freedom of Information Act.
The City Museum & Art Gallery contains in its collection a Benin bronze head (Object Number: Ea7821) looted by the Oba's palace in 1897 and acquired by the museum in 1935.
Some years ago, the local media reported that this object was to be repatriated to Nigeria.
There have been no subsequent reports of its repatriation, so I am assuming this has still to happen.
Kindly provide an explanation for the delay in repatriating this object to where it belongs despite the city museums website (source: https://www.bristolmuseums.org.uk/collec...) stating: "Bristol City Council acknowledges and recognises that the possession of historic Benin Bronzes is highly contentious and that there are calls for repatriation to Benin (Nigeria). As a consequence, Culture team staff are establishing contact with the interested parties in Nigeria and those who are currently negotiating with them across Europe as part of the Benin Dialogue Group and through the Legacy Restoration Trust in Nigeria".
Yours faithfully,
Steve Woods
Dear Mr Woods
Freedom of Information Act 2000
Thank you for your request for information that was received on 9 January
2023.
We are dealing with your request and we aim to send a response within 20
working days from the date we received your request.
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Yours sincerely
Customer Relations Team
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Dear Bristol City Council,
I note with despair that, yet again, you have failed to answer an FoI request of mine within the statutory response term of 20 working days.
If no response is received by the end of this week, I shall be referring this matter to the ICO.
Yours sincerely,
Steve Woods
Dear Mr Woods
Freedom of Information Act 2000
Firstly, we would like to apologise for the delay in providing this
information. The museum colleague who would usually have responded to this
request recently retired and it has taken us longer than we would have
liked to get back to you.
In an update to that given in March 2022, we are now able to tell you that
we are in discussion with a different body in Nigeria to those we were
previously speaking with. Following the progress made, initially by
Cambridge and Aberdeen, in returning their items it became clear that the
National Commission for Museums and Monuments (NCMM) had been given a
mandate in Nigeria as the body with responsibility for international
returns.
Representatives from NCMM were due to come to Bristol in April 2022 but in
the end their busy itineraries couldn't allow for that. They have become
even busier in recent months due to the increased amount of global
returns, and pledges to return, that have taken up their time. They have
concentrated their efforts with larger institutions but we await direction
from them on what they would like to happen next in the Bristol case.
In addition to working our way through these negotiations behind the
scenes we have also been contributing to the global Digital Benin project
([1]Digital Benin). This project seeks to make people aware of Benin
material in institutions across the world, in part to make discussions
easier around what repatriations need to be prioritised.
Yours sincerely
Fran Coles ACR
Interim Head of Collections and Archives
[email address]
NOTE: Please do not edit the subject line when replying to this email.
Bristol City Council
This email contains proprietary confidential information some or all of
which may be legally privileged and/or subject to the provisions of
privacy legislation. It is intended solely for the addressee. If you are
not the intended recipient, an addressing or transmission error has
misdirected this e-mail; you must not use, disclose, copy, print or
disseminate the information contained within this e-mail. Please notify
the author immediately by replying to this email. Any views expressed in
this email are those of the individual sender, except where the sender
specifically states these to be the views of Bristol City Council.
This email has been scanned for all viruses and all reasonable precautions
have been taken to ensure that no viruses are present. Bristol City
Council cannot accept responsibility for any loss or damage arising from
the use of this email or attachments.
══════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════
Council services: http://www.bristol.gov.uk/service
Latest council news: http://www.bristol.gov.uk/ournews
Consultations: http://www.bristol.gov.uk/consult
Privacy Notice: https://www.bristol.gov.uk/about-our-web...
References
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