Thursday, August 28, 2025 - France on Tuesday returned three colonial-era skulls to Madagascar, including one believed to be that of a Malagasy king decapitated by French troops during a 19th-century massacre.
The skull, believed to belong to King Toera, was handed over
in the first restitution of human remains since France passed a law
facilitating their return in 2023, along with those of two other members of the
Sakalava ethnic group
French troops beheaded King Toera in 1897, with his skull
then taken as a trophy to France.
It was placed in Paris's national history museum alongside
hundreds of other remains from the Indian Ocean Island.
"These skulls entered the national collections in
circumstances that clearly violated human dignity and in a context of colonial
violence," said French Culture Minister Rachida Dati.
Her Madagascar counterpart, Volamiranty Donna Mara, praised
the handover as "an immensely significant gesture" that marked
"a new era of cooperation" between the two countries.
"Their absence has been, for more than a century, 128
years, an open wound in the heart of our island," she said.
A joint scientific committee confirmed the skulls were from
the Sakalava people but said it could only "presume" that one
belonged to King Toera, Dati said.
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