Thursday, May 28, 2025, will undoubtedly be remembered in African history as a day of joy and pride, as many original and rare works of Gabonese cultural heritage officially returned to their homeland.

These are the lands where statues, ritual boards, and other works of art were crafted by the skilled hands of their creators, some of whom have passed away.

These works are relics, vestiges, and fragments of the history of an Africa that is clearly eager to reconstruct, preserve, and further promote its civilisation.

Dr. Armande Longo, wife of Mouloungui, Gabon's Minister of Culture, described this return as a source of intergenerational pride.

Sourced from virtually every corner of Gabon, these cultural artefacts represent the history of the Vili, Punu, Fang, Kota, Mahongwè, Ambété, Kwelé, Teke, Galoa, Nzebi, and many other peoples.

In January 2024, Gabon and Françoise Aubrun and Paul Bory, owners of the “Art premier du Gabon” collection, reached an agreement, under a convention, on the return to Gabon of these 90 works from Sanremo, in northwestern Italy.

While living in Gabon in the early 1960s, Paul Bory, an art lover, legally acquired these works, some of which were sacred and ancient, but the exact amounts remain unknown.

Today, most of them are estimated to be worth millions of dollars. These elements of African heritage are now on display at the National Museum of Arts, Rites and Traditions of Gabon in Libreville, the Gabonese capital.

The collection includes masks, reliquaries, bells, drums, statues, horns, ritual boards, pianos, and books.

(The tsogho horn facilitates communication and gatherings; it is used to signal important events, such as ceremonies, alerts, or meetings, thereby contributing to the functioning of the community.)

The ceremony was presided over by the Vice President of the Republic, Dr. Séraphin Moundounga, accompanied by several members of the Gabonese government, for a ceremony marked by the reconciliation of Gabonese people with their history.