Restitution of Colonial Heritage and the Decolonization of Museums

The return of cultural assets to former colonies is one of the most sensitive debates in the European museum world. In Portugal, silence long prevailed: while Germany, the UK, France, Belgium, and the Netherlands opened inventories, conducted provenance research, and signed restitution agreements, Portuguese colonial collections remained largely unstudied and publicly uncatalogued. The issue gained public visibility only in recent years, moving from academic and activist circles into the political arena.

From the international context to the Portuguese case

The international turning point was the 2018 report commissioned by French President Emmanuel Macron from Senegalese economist Felwine Sarr and art historian Bénédicte Savoy. The document, Report on the Restitution of African Cultural Heritage, argued that nearly all material heritage from sub-Saharan Africa is held outside the continent and proposed the restitution of assets acquired under coercion or looting. The debate has deeper roots: as early as the late 1970s, UNESCO advocated for the return of cultural assets to their countries of origin, a topic now also framed by international heritage conventions and the 1970 Convention on illicit trafficking of cultural property.

In Portugal, the debate crystallized around two fronts. One was the controversial proposal for a “Museum of Discoveries” in Lisbon, which reignited discussions about how imperial history is narrated. The other was concrete requests: from 2018 onward, Angola expressed interest in the return of objects held at the National Museum of Ethnology in Lisbon, an institution housing extensive African, Amazonian, and Indonesian collections. Meanwhile, the Lisbon Geographical Society holds dozens of bronzes from the former Kingdom of Benin, part of an 1899 donation, parallel to the famed Benin Bronzes scattered across global museums.

Decolonizing is not (just) about returning

Reducing museum decolonization to compiling a list of objects to return is, for many experts, a misconception. The process involves researching the provenance of each item—who collected it, under what circumstances, and with what degree of consent—revising exhibition narratives inherited from colonialism, and sharing authority with origin communities.

As Bénédicte Savoy asked, how can Angola or Mozambique request restitution of items whose existence they are unaware of? Without accessible, digitized inventories, restitution is blocked from the outset.

Here lies a decisive practical obstacle: many Portuguese collections are neither digitized nor included in a searchable national database. Restitution also requires studying the provenance of items—some already classified as cultural assets—and may necessitate revising cultural heritage legislation, as Portuguese law protects the inalienability of state heritage.

Impasses and signs of change

In 2023, then-Minister of Culture Pedro Adão e Silva established a working group of museum directors to address the issue, but government and museum leadership changes hindered concrete progress. On the other hand, formal requests from former colonies remain scarce—partly due to limited knowledge of what exists in Portuguese collections.

Still, there are signs of evolution. A 2025 survey by the Portuguese Catholic University, conducted as part of the 50th anniversary commemorations of the 25th April Revolution, found that most citizens in Portugal, Angola, and Cape Verde agree that Portugal should return works and assets taken from its former colonial territories. The case of the Dembos Archives, inscribed in UNESCO’s Memory of the World Register and shared between Portugal and Angola, shows that documentary cooperation is possible and could serve as a model for negotiated solutions.

To situate this debate within the broader framework of heritage institutions and resources, it is essential to recognize that restitution is not merely a technical or legal issue: it is an exercise in historical responsibility that redefines the relationship between Portugal and the countries it once administered.