Architecture of Unforgetting

  ARTICLE 2b. Images of the burnt city. The British looting and burning went far beyond the palace as they sought to destroy the ancient city in total -- which was then promptly photographed by themselves to show, in that book by the British propagandist, L. Roth, 'how dirty the Africans were'. The first image is of a street in the ancient city, Benin City. The burnt pillar manages to retain the stylized emblems. Notice use of the 'bird of prophesy' as decoration at its base. This motif of the bird seems to have been used at entrances. Notice also the decorative striations on the sides of the pillars in the first image, which is Edo Architecture proper — though many groups all across the region (ie as far west as the Ewe and Asante in Ghana ) share very similar architecture, such as pillars and the low relief decorations on altars (see in the second image). The horizon ribbed indentations however appear to be particular to Edo Architecture Both images were photographe...

  ARTICLE 2a The burnt remains of a ruined doorway leading into a family compound. / The image of the doorway in the document below, is from a photograph taken by one of the looters on that day in 1987 and is ironically an example of how the invaders went to great length to record their destruction of Life and Arts and Architecture of the Benin Empire supposedly to 'show' how laid to waste or 'dirty' the ancient city was. For example, what the invaders referred to as 'ditch' was an elaborate moat system, often with inlaid steps and which were fortified by Oba Esigie in the late 1500s in great foresight upon realizing that the subkingdoms under the Benin Empire had all been lost as if overnight and a new form of personality was being groomed by the Europeans as 'chief'. To Esigie's mind, the debilitating trade was essentially robbing his kingdom of the vast people under the empire built by his grandfather. In a bid to stop the new and fast arriving ...

  ARTICLE 1b. An overview of the powerful symbol of the tower, the brass serpent and the bird of prophesy as landmark at various gates in the city.

Ibokpor n’ Okhua : Royal Authority, Spiritual Symbol and Artistry The powerful symbol of the tower, the brass serpent and the bird of prophesy ( " AHIANMWẸ ỌRRỌỌ" - BIRD THAT NEUTRALIZES SHOCK ) was a landmark before any of the invaders reached the shores of the Benin Empire. The tower was largely an elongated framework built from an inlay of wood, mud (a highly effective cooling architectural device and material) and straw over which scales of plaques are laid. This particular architectural structure known as Ibokpor n’ Okhua served as one of the many gates of the palace at Benin City and depicts a sacred snake moving downwards over a set of plaques lined in a turret with baked clay shingles above which stands the Bird of Prophesy. Other interpretations, which includes the Ahianmwe Orroo as the neutralizer of thunder, indicates structural, architectural use of the symbol as both meaning, location and application. Such as, the location of the bird being both symbol and indi...

INTRODUCTION During the reign of Oba Ovonramwen, Benin City, the administrative centre of the kingdom of Benin (formerly Benin Empire) was invaded, looted and destroyed by the British. The attack on the kingdom was ostensibly response to the defeat of a previous attempt by palace knights. The main motivation however was for the English to finally put out of the way the legitimate kingdom and nation standing in the way of colonization of ‘The Niger Delta Region’, also termed ‘the South Protectorate’. The year was 1896, the European TransAtlantic Slave Trade was no longer profitable and its masters were all 7 of them vying to become colonial masters of African resources. The scramble was about to happen. The assault on Benin by British forces became known euphemistically as ‘The Benin Expedition of 1897’. Much of the art and ancient artefacts, including the now famous plaques, were either destroyed or looted by the British forces, and the long journey of the matter of the return of the s...