ITV News published this video item, entitled “Cambridge college returning looted bronze cockerel to Nigeria | ITV News” – below is their description.
It is a dilemma that many museums and galleries wrestle with. Should great works of art, created in different times, in different countries be returned to their place of origin?
One college at Cambridge University has decided to return what’s known as a Benin Bronze.
Thousands of these bronze figures, statues and other artefacts were looted from the African Kingdom of Benin, in what is now Nigeria, at the end of the 18 hundreds, by British troops.
Jesus College is not alone in wanting to end its association with an era of empire and colony. Aberdeen University is doing the same. And in France they are sending more than 20 of their Bronzes back too.
ITV News YouTube Channel
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In This Story: Benin
Benin, officially the Republic of Benin, is a country in West Africa. Formerly known as Dahomey, the country gained full independence from France in 1960.
It is bordered by Togo to the west, Nigeria to the east, Burkina Faso to the north-west, and Niger to the north-east. The majority of its population lives on the small southern coastline of the Bight of Benin, part of the Gulf of Guinea in the northernmost tropical portion of the Atlantic Ocean.
The capital of Benin is Porto-Novo, but the seat of government is in Cotonou, the country’s largest city and economic capital. Benin covers an area of 114,763 square kilometres (44,310 sq mi) and its population in 2018 was estimated to be approximately 11.49 million.
The official language of Benin is French, with several indigenous languages such as Fon, Bariba, Yoruba and Dendi also being commonly spoken. The largest religious group in Benin is Roman Catholicism, followed closely by Islam, Vodun (commonly referred to as Voodoo outside the country) and Protestantism.
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