Abstract
The monograph dedicated to the history, culture and art ofthe African Kingdom of Benin. It presents Benin bronzes that were taken as war booty to Europe after the British conquest of Benin in 1897.
The book deals with their sales to private collections and public institutions that influenced avant-garde artists - representatives of express ionism, fauvism and later cubism. It reconstructs the history of the Benin Kingdom from the mythological period Ogiso to the Oba period.
It also focuses on the political system of the kingdom and development changes of the country from the time when it was under British colonial rule to the renewal of the Benin Kingdom in free Nigeria. Special attention is paid to the tradition of manufacturing Benin bronze artefacts from the period of adopting the technique of lost wax from Ife, Yoruba to an analysis of Benin bronzes, their basic typology, meaning and function.
The objective of the book is to describe not only the history of Benin bronzes, but also their current production in the Igun Street in Benin City. An important part of the book is description, classification and Benin bronzes in Bohemian and Moravian collections.