Benin has reached a decisive turning point in its long campaign to reclaim its cultural heritage. After the historic return of 26 royal treasures from Abomey in 2021, the country is now making a bold move: President Romuald Wadagni has formally asked his French counterpart, Emmanuel Macron, to hand back 35 additional cultural objects and historical documents currently held in France. This new demand signals a major shift in Benin’s restitution strategy — one that blends memory, cultural sovereignty, and a clear-eyed tourism ambition into a single breakthrough-driven agenda.
A decisive new push to recover the national heritage
The question of returning African cultural property held in Europe has become a permanent fixture in relations between Benin and France. With this fresh request for 35 cultural objects and historical documents, Cotonou is pressing forward with a process that has been building for years, aiming to recover a portion of its heritage — much of which was taken during the colonial era.
The initiative led by President Romuald Wadagni is far from a symbolic gesture. It forms part of a wider policy designed to let Benin regain ownership of significant chapters of its own history and make them accessible to its people.
Among the items being claimed are pieces linked to the ancient kingdoms of Benin, their rulers, and their traditions. Their return would help complete the national collections and add greater depth to the historical narrative presented in Beninese museums.
For the authorities in Cotonou, restitution is therefore a matter of memory — but also of sovereignty. For decades, a substantial part of Benin’s material history has been kept outside the African continent. The country now wants to reverse that dynamic.
Building on Patrice Talon’s legacy
Romuald Wadagni is following in the footsteps of his predecessor, Patrice Talon, who made the return of cultural property a priority of Beninese diplomacy.
The most striking moment of that policy remains the return, in November 2021, of 26 works from the royal treasury of Abomey, following their official restitution by France.
These objects — among them thrones, statues, recades, and other emblematic pieces of the Kingdom of Dahomey — had been seized by French troops during the conquest of the kingdom in 1892.
Their homecoming stirred immense emotion across Benin. For many Beninese, it was not simply the return of ancient objects, but the recovery of a piece of their own history.
That first restitution also carried international weight. It helped establish Benin as one of the African countries most actively engaged in the debate over African heritage held in Western collections.
With this new claim for 35 objects, Cotonou intends to sustain that momentum and broaden the movement.
Museums ready to welcome the recovered treasures
But recovering the works is only the first step. The country still needs infrastructure capable of receiving, conserving, and showcasing them.
This is precisely one of the central pillars of Benin’s cultural policy. The government has made significant investments in building and modernizing museum facilities.
In Abomey, the Museum of the Epic of the Amazons and the Kings of Danxomè is intended to tell the story of the Kingdom of Dahomey and present part of its heritage to the public.
In Porto-Novo, the International Museum of Vodun project is meant to highlight a religious and cultural tradition that is often reduced abroad to stereotypes. In Ouidah, projects dedicated to the memory of slavery are also set to strengthen the historic city’s place in the country’s cultural and tourism landscape.
The strategy is clear: returned objects must not simply be placed behind glass. They must be accompanied by scientific, educational, and historical work that allows visitors to understand their origin, their meaning, and the circumstances under which they left Benin.
Turning heritage into a driver of tourism
This heritage policy also responds to an economic ambition.
Benin wants culture and tourism to become sectors capable of contributing more to the country’s growth. The restitution of the works therefore fits into a broader strategy aimed at transforming historic sites, traditions, and museums into genuine tourist attractions.
Abomey and its royal palaces, Ouidah and its history linked to the slave trade, Porto-Novo and its architectural heritage, Vodun traditions, and the cultures of the ancient kingdoms are all valuable assets.
The challenge now is to create a real tourist circuit around these different sites.
A visitor could discover the royal palaces of Abomey, continue the journey to the museums of Porto-Novo, explore the history of Ouidah, and take part in cultural events such as the Vodun Days. Around these activities, hotels, restaurants, crafts, transport, guide services, and an entire local economy can develop.
Heritage then becomes far more than a matter of conservation: it can become an economic sector that creates jobs and income.
The challenge of conservation and transmission
Restitution nonetheless raises another challenge: conservation.
Ancient objects require specific conditions of temperature, humidity, security, and restoration. Their return must therefore be accompanied by appropriate skills and resources.
Benin will also need to keep training curators, historians, restorers, and heritage specialists to guarantee the transmission of these assets to future generations.
Because the goal must not be simply to recover the objects. It must also enable younger generations to make them their own.
In schools, universities, and museums, these works can become tools for teaching and research. They can help deepen understanding of pre-colonial kingdoms, African societies, resistance to colonial conquest, and the political and cultural transformations that have shaped Benin’s history.
A cultural battle that crosses borders
The request for 35 new cultural objects sent to France also illustrates how the balance of power around African heritage is shifting.
For a long time, major European museums held a considerable share of objects originating from the African continent. Today, several African states want to regain control of their heritage and build institutions on their own soil capable of conserving and presenting it.
Benin intends to play a leading role in this movement.
After the 26 royal treasures returned in 2021 under Patrice Talon, the 35 new objects claimed by Romuald Wadagni mark a new stage. The process could still be long, as each object requires identification, documentation, and negotiation.
But the message from Cotonou is now clear: Benin’s heritage must gradually find its place back in Benin.
Reclaiming the past to build the future
The battle for restitution therefore goes beyond the question of ancient objects alone. It touches on identity, memory, and a country’s ability to tell its own story.
For Benin, the challenge now is to turn every restitution into an opportunity. A work that returns must be studied, conserved, exhibited, and explained. A museum that opens its doors must attract both Beninese citizens and foreign visitors. A historic site must benefit the communities living nearby.
Only then will restitution take on its full meaning.
The 35 new objects claimed from France could thus become another piece of a vast undertaking: recover the heritage, build the museums, develop tourism, and turn memory into a resource for the future.
After securing the return of the Abomey treasures, Benin now wants to go further. The heritage battle is changing scale. And behind the negotiations between Cotonou and Paris, a broader ambition is taking shape: to make Beninese heritage not only a legacy to preserve, but also a cultural, educational, and economic force serving future generations.