Museum of Black Civilizations launched, Africans should get back their artworks, says minister

After 52 years of waiting, Senegal inaugurated new Museum of Black Civilizations in its capital city Dakar on December 6 this year. The idea was proposed by the country's first President Léopold Sédar Senghor half a century ago.

It opened this month amid a global conversation about the ownership and legacy of African art. The West African nation's culture minister isn't shy: He wants the thousands of pieces of cherished heritage taken from the continent over the centuries to come home. Senegal's Minister for the Promotion of Good Governance told AP that it is entirely logical that Africans should get back their artworks.

Last month, a report commissioned by French President Emmanuel Macron recommended that French museums give back works taken without consent, if African countries request them. The new museum in Dakar is the latest sign that welcoming spaces across the continent are being prepared.

Newly opened Museum of Black Civilizations, spreading over an area of 14,000 sq m with a capacity of over 18,000 pieces of art, will be utilized for the conservation of cultural values of the black people and for the presentation of Africa to the world. Earlier, construction was halted due to political transition but the project was restarted by Senegal President Macky Sall in 2013 obviously with the influx of mammoth amount of $34 million from China.