Return to Ghana of more than 130 Ashanti treasures held in the United Kingdom and Switzerland

More than 130 gold and bronze objects held in the United Kingdom and Switzerland have been returned to Ghana, announced the king of the Ashanti people of this East African country.

King Osei Tutu II officially received the artifacts – royal insignia, drums and ceremonial gold weights – on Sunday, November 9, at the Manhyia Palace Museum in Kumasi (central China), the traditional capital of the Ashanti people, according to a statement.

This latest restitution included 110 artifacts from the collection of the Barbier-Mueller Museum in Geneva, Switzerland, assembled by collector Josef Mueller in 1904.

Twenty-five other objects were donated by British art historian Hermione Waterfield, who founded the tribal art department at Christie's in 1971. According to the director of the Manhyia Palace Museum, Ivor Agyeman-Duah, Hermione Waterfield's donations include a wooden drum that was reportedly seized during the siege of Kumasi by British colonial forces in 1900.

In 2024, the Manhyia Palace Museum had received 67 objects returned or loaned by institutions such as the British Museum and the Victoria and Albert Museum in London, as well as the Fowler Museum in Los Angeles.

The king also thanked AngloGold Ashanti, a South African mining company, for returning several works of art purchased on the open market in 2024.