London’s V&A Museum to mark 150th anniversary of 1874 Anglo-Asante war

The Victoria and Albert (V&A) Museum in London, the world’s leading museum of art and design is developing a programme to commemorate the 150th anniversary of the 1874 Anglo-Asante war. The commemoration will take place in February 2024.

According to the museum, it is engaging a group of Ghanaian and British artists for a memorial in London, to mark the anniversary.

The museum houses a collection of over 2.8 million including Asante regalia, which were taken from Kumasi by the British army, after the Asante war against the British in 1874, also known as the Battle of Amoaful.

Confirming the planned anniversary in an interview with The Thunder in Accra on Thursday, October 19, 2023, Ivor Agyeman-Duah, a historian of Asante art and architecture, who is leading a team constituted by the Asantehene to work on the return of the Asante regalia from the British Museum, said the V&A museum is very keen on the commemoration.

He said he would be holding discussions with the museum officials in London on matters relating to the anniversary.

The war
The powerful Asante Empire fought the British in five wars between 1824 and 1900 winning two and losing three.
In the third war of 1873-1874, British troops, seeking a revenge, entered Kumasi where they looted and blew up the palace of the King, Asantehene Kofi Karikari.

The seizure of the gold regalia by the Queen Victoria forces stripped the Asantehene of his symbols of government. As tensions between Asante and Britain continued, two more wars were fought in 1896 and 1900, during which the British seized more treasures.

Asante Collections
The Art Newspaper of UK reported that the greatest part of the V&A’s Asante collection comprises 13 pieces of looted Asante court regalia. These were sold by the British army through the London crown jeweller Garrard.

They include a decorated gold pectoral “soul” disc, shaped like a flower, which would have been worn by priests involved in the ritual purification of the king’s soul. There is a also a pear-shaped pendant, either worn or possibly attached to a state sword or stool. The remaining pieces of regalia are of gold.

Return of Asante regalia
Apart from the upcoming commemoration of the anniversary of the 1874 war, V&A museum is also planning the return on Asante regalia in the museum.

In the V&A museum’s annual evaluation report for 2021–2022, Dr Tristram Hunt , the director of the museum hinted of the possible return of the artefacts, which were looted during the war.

He stated: “I visited Ghana to begin conversations about a renewable cultural partnership centred around the V&A collection of Asante court regalia, which entered the collection following the looting of Kumasi in 1874. We are optimistic that a new partnership model can forge a potential pathway for these important artefacts to be on display in Ghana in the coming years.”

On his visit, Dr Hunt held discussions with officials of the Ministry of Tourism, Arts and Culture, and the Asantehene, Otumfuo Osei Tutu II.