Benin Bronzes in the British Museum [4288 X 2848]

A prime example of British colonialism still going on. The people group these were stolen from have been asking for these back since they were (very) violently taken. For an in depth explanation The Brutish Museums by Dan Hicks is a good read (though I have only read a little of it I must admit)

The vast majority of which were taken after a punitive expedition to avenge the horrific slaughter of around 250 people during the Benin Massacre of 1897, most of whom were innocent local labourers working for the British as porters, builders, etc. Richard Burton described the slaver kingdom of Benin as a land of **”gratuitous barbarity which stinks of death”.**

Over 100 African slaves were freed by the British in a single day.

Elspeth Huxley, who encountered the horrific scene of dozens of bodies brutally beaten and murdered wrote

**”As we neared Benin City we passed several human sacrifices, live women slaves gagged and pegged on their backs to the ground, the abdominal wall being cut in the form of a cross, and the uninjured gut hanging out. These poor women were allowed to die like this in the sun. Men slaves, with their hands tied at the back and feet lashed together, also gagged, were lying about. As we neared the city, sacrificed human beings were lying in the path and bush—even in the king’s compound the sight and stench of them was awful. Dead and mutilated bodies were everywhere – by God! May I never see such sights again!”**

So no, I don’t pity them their “stolen” bronzes at all.