France has returned three colonial-era skulls to Madagascar, 128 years after they were taken during the French conquest of the island — including one believed to be that of King Toera, a Sakalava ruler executed by French troops in 1897.
At a solemn ceremony in Paris on Tuesday, the remains were formally handed over by French Culture Minister Rachida Dati, who hailed the restitution as a “historic event” between the two nations. The skulls had been held in the collections of the Museum of Natural History in Paris.
“This ceremony also symbolises the completion of a historical, scientific and memorial process between our two nations,” Dati said.
Her Malagasy counterpart, Volamiranty Donna Mara, called the return “a significant moment for the Sakalava community and the nation”, stressing the deep cultural and emotional importance of the remains.
“They are not collectors’ items; they are the invisible and indelible link that unites our present to our past,” Mara told the gathering. “Their absence has been, for more than a century, an open wound in the hearts of Madagascar — and particularly the Sakalava community of Menabe.”
The handover marks the first restitution under a 2023 French law designed to return human remains from public collections to their countries of origin.
The Malagasy government said the remains will be honoured in a national tribute to coincide with the anniversary of King Toera’s execution in Ambiky in August 1897.
