Hobnob News — Madagascar on Tuesday held a solemn ceremony to receive three ancestral skulls repatriated from France, including one believed to be that of King Toera of the Sakalava people, executed during the colonial conquest more than a century ago.
The remains, thought to belong to King Toera and two of his warriors, were taken by French troops in 1897 and preserved in Paris as part of colonial war trophies.
Their return was made possible under a 2023 French law permitting the restitution of human remains acquired during the country’s imperial expansion.
The skulls arrived in Antananarivo on Monday evening, where they were welcomed by Sakalava representatives in traditional attire. On Tuesday, the remains—carried in boxes draped with Madagascar’s flag—were transported in a ceremonial procession through the capital to the national mausoleum. President Andry Rajoelina, senior government officials, and Sakalava dignitaries attended the event.
Later this week, the skulls will be taken to Belo Tsiribihina, a western coastal town about 320 kilometres from Antananarivo, where they are expected to be laid to rest.
During the restitution ceremony in Paris, French Culture Minister Rachida Dati explained that a joint scientific committee had confirmed the remains were of Sakalava origin, though it could only “presume” that one belonged to King Toera.
The handover marks part of France’s wider reckoning with its colonial past. Until recently, such restitutions required individual parliamentary approval. Last year’s legislation streamlined the process, enabling quicker repatriations of ancestral remains and cultural artefacts.
Madagascar, which endured over six decades of French colonial rule before gaining independence in 1960, still has hundreds of ancestral remains held in French collections awaiting return.
