Asantehene Receives Looted Artefacts from UK Museums

The King of the Asante Kingdom, Otumfuo Osei Tutu II has taken delivery of 32 of the artefacts stolen by the British from the Palace of Asantehene Kofi Karikari in Kumasi during the 1874 Sagrenti War.

They included 15 gold and silver objects from the British Museum and 17 from the Victoria and Albert Museum (V&A).

His Majesty received the royal items and specially designed Belgian cases for their exhibition at the Manhyia Palace in Kumasi on April 12, 2024, following their arrival in the country on April 9, 2024.

They are in the country on a long-term loan, that is, an initial three-year loan renewable for another three.

It comes after the final signing of official documentation in London two weeks ago by the directors of the BM and V&A, Sir Mark Jones and Dr. Tristram Hunt and the chief negotiator, Mr. Ivor Agyeman-Duah who represented and signed on behalf of the Manhyia Palace.

Closure of Manhyia Museum
To make way for the installation of these items- together with the seven earlier received from a Museum in Los Angeles- in the Manhyia Palace Museum, the museum has been closed to the public effective April 10, 2024.

It will be opened to the public after an official reopening ceremony by Asantehene on May 1.