Ghana has officially welcomed the return of over 130 priceless Ashanti artefacts that had been held in the United Kingdom, South Africa, and Switzerland for more than a hundred years.
King Otumfuo Osei Tutu II, ruler of the Ashanti people, received the artefacts during a ceremony at the Manhyia Palace Museum in Kumasi.
The repatriated collection includes royal crowns, ceremonial drums, and gold weights dating from 1870 to 1920, encapsulating the rich cultural legacy of the Ashanti Kingdom.
Some items came from the Barbier-Mueller Museum in Geneva, while others were returned by a South African mining company that had acquired them on the open market, alongside private donations from a British art historian.
Among the most notable pieces is a wooden drum believed to have been seized during the British siege of Kumasi in 1900.
The return of these artefacts marks a historic milestone in Ghana’s cultural restitution efforts, celebrating the legacy of the Ashanti Kingdom — once one of West Africa’s most powerful empires before British colonial rule in the early 20th century.
