Cambridge University loans cultural artefacts to Ugandan museum
Cambridge University in England has commenced a three-year loan of 39 cultural artefacts, including tribal costumes and pottery, to a museum in Uganda.
This marks a significant move towards the restitution of historical objects.
The loaned items are a small fraction of the over 1,500 Ugandan ethnographic objects that Cambridge has held for more than a century.
Many of these artefacts were originally taken to England by an Anglican missionary active in Uganda from the 19th to early 20th century.
These artefacts will be temporarily displayed at the Ugandan Museum in Kampala next year.
The agreement with Cambridge is renewable, potentially allowing for an extension of the loan or paving the way for a full restitution of the artefacts.
Nelson Abiti, the chief curator of the Ugandan Museum, considers this agreement a significant step forward.
He hopes it will serve as a model for other museums holding ethnographic items from Uganda. “This is the largest movement of returned artefacts to the African continent in recent years,” Abiti remarked.
The issue of restitution, however, remains challenging for African governments.
The African Union has made the return of looted cultural heritage a priority and is working towards establishing a common policy on the matter.
