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5h ago

France Hands Over Three Colonial-Era Skulls to Madagascar in First Return Under 2023 Law

The transfer reflects a new legal route for repatriating human remains taken during colonial violence.

Rachida Dati, French culture minister, delivers a speech during the ceremony to mark the return of three Sakalava skulls.
A man carries one of the three Sakalava skulls during a ceremony for their repatriation to Madagascar at the French culture ministry in Paris on Tuesday, August 26, 2025.
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Overview

  • At an Aug. 26 ceremony in Paris, France’s culture ministry returned three skulls from the Sakalava community to Malagasy representatives, including one presumed to be King Toera.
  • A bilateral scientific committee verified the remains’ Sakalava origin and said the identification of King Toera could only be presumed, not confirmed.
  • The skulls, long held by the National Museum of Natural History in Paris, were taken after an 1897 massacre in Ambiki during France’s colonial conquest.
  • Malagasy officials called the return a deeply significant step for national memory, with plans to circulate the remains across the island before a customary burial in Bora on Aug. 30.
  • The handover is the first under France’s 2023 human-remains law, as a separate bill to ease restitution of colonial-era objects awaits Senate debate that has been reported as postponed.