Ethiopian artefacts return home after a century and half

After months of talks, 13 stolen Ethiopian treasures have been returned home after being concealed in private collections for almost a century and a half.

‘Our country’s old civilization’s history, artefacts, fingerprints of indigenous knowledge, culture… have all been looted in war and unlawfully transported out,’ said Nasise Challa, tourism minister of Ethiopia.

Officials said that the pieces were part of Ethiopia’s largest act of restitution, which includes an intricately latticed processional cross, a vividly coloured triptych representing Jesus’ crucifixion and an opulent red and brass imperial shield.

Following the battle of Maqdala between the British and Ethiopian empires in 1868, the antiquities were captured. A private seller, who bought those artefacts from a British soldier who fought at Maqdala, auctioned off some of the items in June in the United Kingdom.

‘Many items from Maqdala were robbed,’ stated Teferi Meles, Ethiopia’s ambassador to the United Kingdom, where many of the treasures were discovered. ‘We weren’t able to bring back all of them, but this is the first time in the country’s history that plundered items have been brought back in such a large amount.’

The Scheherazade Foundation, a cultural non-profit organisation, purchased many of the artefacts and sent them to the Ethiopian embassy in September. This weekend, they were returned to Addis Ababa and will be shown in Ethiopian museums.

‘We’ve started talks with the British Museum about bringing back 12 tabots,’ Teferi said.

Tabots are hallowed copies of the Ark of the Covenant in the Ethiopian Orthodox Church, which is one of the world’s oldest churches. After the Battle of Maqdala, the tabots were also seized.

‘We believe we will be successful in bringing them back, and conversations with additional artefacts from other countries will continue,’ Teferi said.

‘The Museum has long-standing and good links with the National Museum in Addis Ababa and with the Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahedo Church in London and in Ethiopia,’ the British Museum said in a statement.

Museums in the United Kingdom have long opposed calls for artworks to be returned, citing legislation prohibiting them from doing so.

However, the controversy has heated up, with the British Museum announcing last year that it would loan certain Nigerian masterpieces to a new museum set to open in 2023.

‘At this time, it is obvious that our treasures are being destroyed; it is plain that our treasures are being robbed and unlawfully smuggled out of the nation,’ Teferi added, without going into detail.

Ethiopia has been embroiled in violence for more than a year, with the federal government fighting the Tigray People’s Liberation Front, and cultural artefacts are reported to have been damaged as a result of the fighting.

Teferi explained, ‘If there is no treasure, there is no history; if there is no history, there is no nation.’