The first seven looted objects are scheduled to be presented to the Asantehene Osei Tutu II on Thursday, February 8.
The presentation will be done during a special durbar at Dwaberem, Manhyia Palace, as part of a historic milestone commemorating 150 years since the third Anglo-Asante War in 1874.
The objects, which were looted during the 1874 war, will arrive in Ghana aboard a United Airlines flight. They were acquired by the Fowler Museum of the University of California, Los Angeles, in 1965 from the Wellcome Trust, a major foundation in Britain. The objects have been housed at the Fowler Museum for nearly 60 years.
A delegation of three, led by Dr. Silvia Forni, the Director of the Fowler Museum, arrived with the objects. The delegation also includes Dr. Rachel Raynor, the Director of Registration and Collections, and Dr. Erica Jones, the Curator of the Africa Department. Professor Kwesi Ampene, an external affiliate to the Museum and Chair of the Music Department at Tufts University, completes the team.
The returning objects, approved for departure under their Cities Permit in December, will be permanently presented to the Asantehene during the durbar. The collaboration between the Fowler Museum and the Manhyia Palace had been ongoing for several years, with discussions culminating in a visit last year by Dr. Erica Jones to meet with the Asantehene.
Historian Ivor Agyeman-Duah confirmed the development, noting that the return is made possible by a change in legislation at the University, allowing all looted items to be sent back to their original owners.
A new form of cultural cooperation is also in the works, involving the Fowler Museum, the University of California (UCLA), the Manhyia Palace Museum, and the College of Art and Built Environment at the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology, as envisioned by the Asantehene, who is also the Chancellor of the University.
The seven returning objects, dating back to the period before Asantehene Kofi Karkari in the 1840s, include an ornamental chair, ten large beads, a strand of seed or bug-shaped beads, gold of an elephant hair, a royal stool ornament, a royal necklace, and another royal stool ornament.
