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The Guardian - UK
The Guardian - UK
Lifestyle
Daniel Boffey in Brussels

Row about Congolese statue loan escalates into legal battle over NFTs

Congo United States
Diviner’s Figure representing the Belgian colonial officer, Maximilien Balot, 1931 Pende culture.
Diviner’s Figure representing the Belgian colonial officer, Maximilien Balot, 1931 Pende culture. Photograph: Virginia Museum of Fine Arts / Virginia Museum of Fine Arts

A statue depicting the angry spirit of a Belgian officer beheaded during an uprising in Congo in 1931 is at the centre of a tug of war between a US museum and a Congolese gallery at the site of the rebellion.

The statue of Maximilien Balot, a colonial administrator, has travelled to Europe but the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts is accused of stonewalling requests for a loan to the White Cube gallery in Lusanga in the Democratic Republic of the Congo

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