Benin exhibits for the first time its 26 treasures returned by France. A museum space of more than 2,000 m2 has been set up to reveal the cultural riches of the country.

Beninese President Patrice Talon inaugurated a historic exhibition on Saturday with the 26 royal treasures returned in November by France, 129 years after their theft. For the Head of State, this exhibition is "a pride and a faith in what we were, in what we are, and in what we will be", he declared to the press. These treasures had been looted in 1892 by French colonial troops in the palace of Abomey, capital of the Kingdom of Dahomey, in the center-south of present-day Benin, then composed of several kingdoms. Alongside the treasures, 34 contemporary Beninese artists have been selected to present more than a hundred works.

This exhibition is also perceived as the moment of a relative political reconciliation, with the presence at the opening of former Prime Minister Lionel Zinsou, who had not returned to Benin since his conviction by the courts to a sentence of ineligibility.