Benin City

Thousands of these culturally significant sculptures and carvings were stolen during the violent destruction of Benin City, in modern-day Nigeria's Edo state, in 1897.

Nigeria said it plans to open the Edo Museum of West African Art in Benin City in 2026, designed by the British-Ghanaian architect Sir David Adjaye, to house the largest collection of Benin Bronzes ever assembled.

The eight-artist Biennale exhibition “Nigeria Imaginary” will travel to the Museum of West African Art in Benin City, Nigeria, where Emelife is curator, which will give it “a new context and a new sense of relevancy,’’ she said.

Three years ago, the Fowler Museum announced it had determined that at least six Wellcome Trust sculptures had been stolen during an 1897 genocide at Benin City in what is now Nigeria.

Babawale Obayanju, an activist with the Global Campaign to Demand Climate Justice from Benin City, Nigeria, taking part in Sunday’s protests, told the AP that it was important to highlight the killing of civilians in the Gaza Strip as “it’s time for the world to take action” on that and the environment.