A lifetime project

I absorbed myself in the wikipedia labyrinth this afternoon, bouncing round from various Ancient Greek pages (love the stuff on Ancient Greek pederasty) to Nok culture. Seeing images of dolorously beautiful triangle-eyed Nok figurines in various American museums brings out a primal revolt in me. The British Museum is a cavern of stolen goods, so many of which simply need to be returned and cared for on home territory. I keep coming back to the National-Museum-in-Abuja idea - of demanding volubly that the Benin Bronzes, the 2500 year old Nok terracottas and all the other colonial expropriations are shipped back, creating a tropical masterwork to house them in in the capital. That would be a worthy lifetime project for a group of committed souls and enlightened investors (the govt could chuck in a few naira too). Just the idea that coachloads of African schoolkids in some undesignated future could visit and simply wonder at the limitless depths of the cultures that lived on the same soil in times past should be payment enough..

Meanwhile, sadly, there are still people out there who are selling priceless antiquities to the global blackmarket. I came into contact with one over a year ago - he was all smiles and culture on first meet, until it turned out the ne'er do well was looking to me as a conduit to selling some 15th century Yoruba stuff to dodgy people in London. It will not go well with him.