France will repatriate the skulls of King Toera and two Sakalava warriors to Madagascar, marking the first return of human remains under a new French law passed in 2023. The remains, which were taken during France’s colonization of the island in 1897, have been held for more than a century in Paris’s Natural History Museum.

The decision was announced by French prime minister François Bayrou and follows a formal request by Madagascar in 2022, as well as a review by a bilateral scientific committee. A decree published on April 2 orders the museum to return the skulls within a year. The move is being positioned as both a symbolic and legal milestone: the first application of France’s new framework for returning human remains taken during colonial campaigns, and an acknowledgment—however belated—of the brutality that accompanied the expansion of its empire.

During the French seizure of the island in August 1897, King Toera was reportedly negotiating his surrender when French forces massacred hundreds of people in the village of Ambiky. The severed heads of three Sakalava leaders, including the king, were subsequently shipped to Paris. Their presence in a scientific institution, unburied and unacknowledged for more than 120 years, became a lingering source of pain for descendants and a rallying point for restitution advocates.

Ceremonies to mark the return, including a tour of the remains across Madagascar, are now scheduled for August. Initially planned to coincide with a visit by President Emmanuel Macron, they were postponed after descendants of the king and tribal leaders objected, citing cultural prohibitions against holding such rituals in April.

French senator Catherine Morin-Desailly welcomed the decision but stressed the need for further legal reform. The 2023 law only allows returns requested by foreign states, excluding France’s own overseas territories. She also called for progress on legislation governing the restitution of cultural objects from the colonial era, many of which remain locked in public collections.

A related case is already on the horizon: On April 28, the French Senate will debate a bill allowing the return of a sacred “talking drum” to the Ivory Coast. The drum, once used to warn villages of colonial raids, was seized by French authorities and remains in a state collection.

– Daniel Cassady, Published courtesy of Art News