Museum Objects Return to Uganda From Britain

News June 26, 2024

SHARE:

KAMPALA, UGANDA—According to an Associated Press report, the University of Cambridge handed over 39 artifacts to Uganda, although the items will remain the property of the Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology at Cambridge for now. Curator Mark Elliott said the initial loan will last for a period of three years. Jackline Nyiracyiza, Uganda’s government Commissioner in Charge of Museums and Monuments, added that the loan agreement is renewable with the possibility of a permanent loan or local ownership. Curators from Uganda selected the 39 objects from a collection of 1,500 items acquired by the University of Cambridge from private collections. Many of the artifacts came from an Anglican missionary who was active in Uganda from the 1890s and into the early twentieth century, when the country was a British protectorate. Uganda gained its independence in 1962. “Sixty years have passed,” Nyiracyiza said. “We are working now with the Cambridge team to … see that we talk to other museums and be able to repatriate others maybe next year or within the near future,” she added. The artifacts are expected to go on display at the Uganda Museum next year. To read about excavations on the site of a palace in Nigeria's Benin City, go to "Letter from Nigeria: A West African Kingdom's Roots."

  • Features July/August 2024

    The Assyrian Renaissance

    Archaeologists return to Nineveh in northern Iraq, one of the ancient world’s grandest imperial capitals

    Read Article
    (Land of Nineveh Archaeological Project)
  • Features July/August 2024

    A Dynasty Born in Fire

    How an upstart Maya king forged a new social order amid chaos

    Read Article
    Maya Guatemala Ucanal Excavation
    (Courtesy Proyecto Arqueológico Ucanal)
  • Features July/August 2024

    Making a Roman Emperor

    A newly discovered monumental arch in Serbia reveals a family’s rise to power in the late second century a.d.

    Read Article
    (Serbia’s Institute of Archaeology)
  • Features July/August 2024

    Rise and Fall of Tiwanaku

    New dating techniques are unraveling the mystery of a sacred Andean city

    Read Article