Between the 1930s and the 1970s, German ethnologist Hans Himmelheber journeyed across the Ivory Coast, amassing a collection of ritual objects.
Today, about 100 pieces he bought from local artists — along with 15,000 photographs and a dozen films — have been handed back to their country of origin.
Masterpieces from the Senufo, Dan, Baoule and Guro peoples, as well as everyday objects, are now on show in the cities of Abidjan and Man.
Photo: AFP
Ivorian schoolchildren crowd around masks, finely carved turtles and ceremonial spoons once admired by visitors of Zurich’s Rietberg Museum.
They have flocked to the Himmelheber archive at the Adama Toungara museum in Abidjan.
Running until March 8, the exhibit retraces the journeys made by the researcher, who died in 2003.
It also features 24 of the 107 returned objects, alongside thousands of digitized photos and films shot by Himmelheber.
Among the highlights: a striking “wabele” hood mask and a Dan runner’s mask with delicate feminine features.
The return of cultural artifacts taken from former colonies in Africa and elsewhere has become a sensitive issue, with museums, institutions and collectors in Europe and the US facing pressure to give them back.
Although Himmelheber “always bought his pieces... we cannot ignore the colonial context that sometimes forced people to sell,” Rietberg Museum Africa and Oceania collections head Michaela Oberhofer said.
Although returns of African cultural heritage are increasing, experts said such gestures remain rare.
“This donation is key to diversifying our collections,” said Francis Tagro, director of Abidjan’s Museum of Civilizations, set to reopen this year after renovations.
Switzerland and Ivory Coast last year signed a deal on cultural asset returns.
Alongside the restitution, research projects and workshops were funded.
Himmelheber’s photos and films were screened in 16 Dan villages he often visited, shown to younger generations.
“Some people recognized their ancestors — it was very moving,” Oberhofer said.
A meticulous researcher, Himmelheber documented artists’ techniques and styles during his travels.
“African art is anonymized,” said his son, Eberhard Fischer. “But my father treated artists as seriously as Picasso or Paul Klee.”
Oberhofer said Himmelheber’s trips also revealed ornate loom pulleys and pottery, challenging stereotypes that African art is “limited to masks and figures.”
Ivory Coast now awaits the return of the Djidji Ayokwe “talking drum,” which French colonial troops took in 1916.
Its return was approved by the French parliament in July last year.
Crowds in Bangladesh are flocking to snap photographs with an unlikely social media star — an albino buffalo with flowing blond hair nicknamed “Donald Trump” that is due to be sacrificed within days. Owner Zia Uddin Mridha, 38, said his brother named the 700kg bull over its flowing helmet of hair resembling the signature look of the US president. “My younger brother picked this name because of the buffalo’s extraordinary hair,” he said at his farm in Narayanganj, just outside the capital, Dhaka. Mridha said that a constant stream of curious visitors — social media fans, onlookers and children — have come throughout
It began as a satirical online project. Now millions of young people in India are flocking to it as an outlet for their frustration. A parody political party called the Cockroach Janta Party, with the insect as its symbol, has exploded across India’s social media by turning absurdist humor into protest. Memes and short videos mocking corruption, joblessness and political dysfunction have flooded social media sites, where millions of users are embracing the cockroach — known for its ability to survive harsh conditions — as a tongue-in-cheek symbol of endurance. The online movement’s rise has been unusually rapid. The Cockroach Janta Party (CJP)
BIGGER ROLE: Beijing has said it maintains an impartial stance on the war in Ukraine, but by training Russian troops, China is far more involved than previously known China’s armed forces secretly trained about 200 Russian military personnel in China late last year, and some have since returned to fight in Ukraine, according to three European intelligence agencies and documents seen by Reuters. While China and Russia have held a number of joint military exercises since Moscow’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022, Beijing has repeatedly said that it is neutral in the conflict and presents itself as a peace mediator. The covert training sessions, which predominantly focused on the use of drones, were outlined in a dual-language Russian-Chinese agreement signed by senior Russian and Chinese officers in Beijing on
HOTTER: While Indians are accustomed to summer heat, climate change has caused northwestern India to warm faster than other parts of the country, an academic said Roads and markets have emptied during afternoons and some farmers have switched to nighttime work to avoid scorching temperatures as a heat wave grips large parts of India. The India Meteorological Department forecast maximum temperatures for yesterday of about 45°C in the capital, New Delhi, where authorities have opened temporary “cooling zones” to help people cope. The weather department warned that conditions would likely persist across several northern regions in the coming days, with temperatures staying well above seasonal averages. Authorities urged people to stay indoors during the hottest hours and take precautions against heat-related illnesses. India declares a heat wave whenever maximum temperatures
RSS