In 1897, Admiral Sir Harry Rawson led a "punitive expedition" against the Kingdom of Benin as a reprisal for the killing of eight British representatives.
Benin City, capital of that empire lying in what is now southwestern Nigeria, was conquered and burned. Its art, much of it adorning a stunning royal palace, was destroyed or dispersed.
The Benin Bronzes, portrait figures, busts and depictions of animals, humans and royal court life created in iron, carved ivory and brass, were seized and given to the British Foreign Office.
Two hundred were transferred to the British Museum and many other hundreds spread to collections around the world as London auctioned them off to pay the costs of the expedition.
The humiliation of the fall of Benin was intense. According to some accounts, the king, Oba Ovonramwen, was forced to kneel and eat dust before the British military resident.
Nigeria bought back about 50 of the Benin Bronzes in the 1950s, 1960s and 1970s and has called in vain for the return of the remainder.
Ironically, the dispersal of the Benin Bronzes also shattered the European concept of African art as a relatively elementary form of tribal craft, not on the same level as Western art.
The definition of art in Africa still poses a challenge.
"None of the older stuff produced in Africa was called art," said Vakkuri, who expects to get some examples of the Benin Bronzes for the museum.
"It was not exhibited or used as a work of art. It had a religious function. It had a philosophical function. It had a magical function. And still, it is so incredibly beautiful and crafted that it is art."
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