The project provides a central place to see artifacts that are now scattered around the Global North.
Its organizers hope it will be a model for other communities that want to explore how technology can be used to help them reconnect with and reclaim stolen artifacts.
Launched in November 2022 and hosted by the Museum am Rothenbaum (MARKK) in Hamburg, Digital Benin shows more than 5,000 Benin objects.
Its organizers say it is a form of digital restitution, using technology to reestablish a community’s link to artifacts that were looted from native lands.
The catalogue includes Edo-centric knowledge, history, and language. Eiloghosa Obobaifo, an anthropologist based in Benin City, says the site has been helping locals, including contemporary bronze casters who make sculptures with ancient techniques, reconnect with their history.
