British Museum and Manhyia Palace Museum extend significant cultural partnership

On 5 November, the British Museum and the Manhyia Palace Museum announced the extension of their long-standing partnership, deepening collaboration and reinforcing the strong relationship between the two institutions.

The announcement follows a visit to Kumasi by the Director of the British Museum, Dr Nicholas Cullinan OBE, after an invitation by His Royal Majesty the Asantehene Otumfuo Osei Tutu II.

As part of the continued cooperation between the Museum and Manhyia Palace, the loan of 15 pieces of Asante royal regalia will be renewed for a further three years at the end of the current term in April 2027. The gold regalia associated with the Asante royal court is on display in the Homecoming exhibition at the Manhyia Palace Museum in Kumasi.

This major collaboration between the two institutions, and the V&A in London who also loaned 17 objects associated with the Asante Royal Court, has enabled many of the items to be seen in Ghana for the first time in 150 years. The Asantehene highlighted the importance for local children to be able to see and be inspired by the craftsmanship of the artefacts as they learnt about this period of their history. He also stressed the value of the partnership in enriching cultural understanding and offering mutual benefit to both institutions. Over the past two years overall visitor figures have doubled with visits by school children almost quadrupling'.

During the visit the British Museum Director toured the site of the new Manhyia Arts and Culture Museum which Mr Agyeman-Duah confirmed would be opened in January 2027. Dr Cullinan was delighted to hear about the Manhyia Palace Museum re-structuring and met many of the newly appointed staff.

Dr Nicholas Cullinan, Director of the British Museum, said: “I am delighted that we are renewing this important relationship with the Manhyia Palace Museum and the Asantehene. This partnership is about more than the sharing of objects. It is about building relationships, exchanging knowledge and creating opportunities for research and interpretation. I am grateful to the Asantehene and our colleagues at the Manhyia Palace Museum for their continued collaboration, and I look forward to what we can achieve together in the coming years.”

Mr Ivor Agyeman-Duah, Director of the Manhyia Palace Museum, said: “We are delighted that the Director of the British Museum has visited Kumasi and been able to see the Homecoming exhibition for himself. The partnership goes beyond the exchange of loan agreements and we welcome the development of new projects and activities of mutual benefit over the coming years.”

The fifteen objects from the British Museum include a small gold ornament in the form of a lute-harp (sankuo). This ornament was one of the cast gold objects presented in 1817 to British diplomat Thomas Bowdich during his trip to Kumasi to negotiate a trade treaty with the Asantehene Osei Bonsu. According to Bowdich, they were intended by the Asantehene as gifts for the British Museum and served as a means of representing the wealth and status of the Asante nation. The inclusion of the sankuo highlights the long-term connections between the British Museum and the Asantehenes, now nearly 200 years old.

Other objects selected from the Museum include items of regalia associated with two of the 19^th century Anglo-Asante wars (1873-4 and 1895-6), much of which was looted directly from the palace(s) in Kumasi and most of which formed part of the regalia of respective Asantehenes, Kofi Karikari (c.1837-1884) and Prempeh I (1870-1931).

The V&A will also renew its loan agreement with the Manhyia Palace Museum, as part of its Renewable Cultural Partnership.