25 years on from Bernie Grant campaigning on Glasgow Benin Bronzes they are being returned
Thursday 7th April saw the annual Bernie Grant Memorial Lecture at the Bernie Grant Arts Centre in Tottenham. The keynote speaker was Prof. Dan Hicks author of the Brutish Museums, who in recent times has been a leading authority on and campaigner for the return of artefacts stolen by the British during imperial ‘adventures’ and which are in British museums.
One focus of the campaign has been the return of the Benin bronzes stolen from Africa in 1897 and in numbers on display here.
25 years ago in 1997 Bernie Grant who was campaigning on this issue long before many others went to Glasgow to ask the Kelvingrove Art Gallery why they did not return the 17 bronzes they had in their collections. They claimed then that there was no legal reason for them to do so.
The campaign has continued ever since, although Bernie Grant sadly died in 2000. It was a poignant moment on Thursday when the chair of the Bernie Grant Trust Roger Mackenzie announced that Glasgow Council had that very day agreed to return the bronzes.
It underlined that persistence in campaigning works but as someone said, ‘a lot done, a lot still to do’
https://www.glasgowlive.co.uk/news/glasgow-news/stolen-artefacts-glasgow-museums-returned-23624848
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