Last Thursday, the Asantehene Otumfuo, Osei Tutu II had discussions about regalia artefacts taken from the Ashanti, particularly after the Battle of Amoaful or The Ashanti War with the British in 1874.
He also asked for areas of modern cultural cooperation in the administration and technical support with the Manhyia Palace Museum as part of his working tour to London.
The German art historian Dr. Hartwig Fischer, the Museum Director, the Deputy Director, Dr. Jonathan Williams, the Head of the Africa Department and Curator, Sam Nixon, and Julie Hudson welcomed the Asantehene. The Asantehene later explained that the Manhyia Museum is a living institution that is profitable.
Like other significant museums, it occasionally needed additional collections to boost visitors and expansion.
This, he claimed, was in defiance of ancient British law, even as protracted negotiations persisted. Dr. Fischer, who led the BM team in negotiations, described the visit as an august one and promised to use structured legislation to carry out the Asantehene’s demands.
For the loaning of artefacts for the Asantehene’s silver jubilee in Kumasi the following year, a prior MOU would be timely reviewed.
The Museum also agreed to research and work on a technical framework with two of the Asantehene’s advisors: Malcolm McLeod, a former history professor and vice principal at the University of Glasgow, and the former keeper of ethnography at the British Museum.
He had been instrumental in establishing the Manhyia Palace Museum in 1994. Ivor Agyeman-Duah, a historian, museum economist, and development specialist, is a co-technician of the framework.
Since the British Museum Act forbids the permanent removal of artefacts from its collection, the technical conversations that began this week in London would also result in visits to the Manhyia Palace Museum, object authentication at the Museum for loan agreements, and other legal repercussions.
The Manhyia Palace Museum’s anniversary and reopening would both be supported by the BM under the direction of Dr. Fischer.
A private tour of the current exhibition, Luxury and Power: Persia to Greece, which focuses on the Greco-Persian Wars, was given to the Asantehene.
The Victoria and Albert Museum’s (V&A) Director, Dr. Tristram Hunt, continued negotiations with Mr. Agyeman-Duah in London, according to a confirmation from the Palace provided by The Daily Graphic.
Before February 2024, a bilateral agreement with the Palace would be signed.
The V&A is creating a programme proposal for next February, which would honour the 150th anniversary of the 1874 War and houses a collection of Asante regalia. A group of British and Ghanaian artists will work together to create a memorial in London.
The Asantehene Nana Agyeman Prempeh I’s return from exile in the Seychelles after twenty-seven years will also be commemorated next year on its 100th anniversary.
On the occasion of the 100th anniversary of 1874, the late Asantehene Otumfuo Opoku Ware II wrote to the Director of the British Museum, Sir John Pope-Hennessy, asking for the return of his regalia. Pope-Hennessy, along with the Trustees, later organised the major exhibition, Asante Kingdom of Gold, which was inaugurated by Opoku Ware II and the Duke of Gloucester and later travelled to the Natural History Museum in New York.
The BM trained museum managers in Kumasi and Ghana as part of the cooperation with Manhyia at the time, which later resulted in the important BM International initiative in Africa.
