Ciné-débat - Patrimoines spoliés : restituer, réparer, raconter

Screening of the film Dahomey by Mati Diop

November 2021, twenty-six royal treasures of Dahomey prepare to leave Paris to be repatriated to their homeland, now Benin. Along with several thousand others, these works were looted during the invasion by French colonial troops in 1892. But how to experience the return of these ancestors in a country that had to build itself and cope with their absence? While the soul of the artworks is set free, the debate rages among the students of the University of Abomey-Calavi.

Followed by a debate Spoliated Heritage: Restoring, Repairing, Narrating, moderated by Daniel Fiévet, journalist at France Inter with:

Felicity Bodenstein, art historian, specialist in the history of museums and collections, Centre André Chastel, Sorbonne Université

Angelo Dan, alumnus of the French ENA, senior official and Beninese diplomat. Deputy permanent representative, in charge of multilateral affairs, within the embassy itself

Publication: La restitution de biens culturels, Présence Africaine, 2024

Didier Houénoudé, university professor in art history at the University of Abomey-Calavi in Benin. Specialist in contemporary African art, heritage issues and their reappropriation by source communities (restitution of African cultural goods), urban planning and the development of African cities. Vice-president of the International Committee for Museology (ICOFOM) and holder of the UNESCO Chair: Retours et restitutions des biens culturels africains: matrimoines, communautés et droits culturels.

Publication: Afrique, musée, restitutions, le temps du retour, by Saskia Cousin, Anne Doquet, Alexandra Loumpet-Galitzine and Didier Houénoudé, 2026, ed. Documentation Francaise

General public event organized by the Directorate of Science, Culture and Society Relations.