Today, as part of our History Topic ‘The Kingdom of Benin’, Year 6 visited the British Museum. At the beginning of last term, we started our topic by learning about the Benin Bronzes and creating our own so it was wonderful to have the opportunity to see them for ourselves. We also attended a presentation to help us to answer some of our History questions for this topic such as ‘What can we tell about Benin society from the images and artefacts that have survived?’ and ‘Who were the Obas and what impact did they have on society?’
The British Museum houses the largest collection of artefacts from the Kingdom of Benin in the world. The collection includes the famous Benin Bronzes as well as sculptures and jewellery made of ivory, terracotta and coral. It was amazing to actually see the artefacts after seeing so many photographs and learning so much about them.
Later this term, in our English lessons, we will be exploring the big question: ‘Should the British Museum return the Benin Bronzes?’ focussing on persuasive arguments, using conjunctions and giving reasons for our opinions.
We had a great time and learnt so much today. Thank you so much to the parents who volunteered to come with us- We really appreciate it.
Remember, Year 6: the British Museum is free to visit, so if you want to impress your friends and family with your amazing knowledge about the Kingdom of Benin, why not take them to visit the Africa Gallery ?
It was so fun because we got to see the Benin Bronzes and they were so cool.
All the Benin Bronzes are so unique.The Edo people were very talented.
the BENIN bronzes looked so cool and exciting
It was very interesting learning about the Benin Bronzes I hope to learn more.