Physical Address
Indirizzo: Via Mario Greco 60, Buttigliera Alta, 10090, Torino, Italy
The expected return of the Baba Merzoug cannon
Memory and history
The restitution of historical and symbolic properties of 19th century Algeria, which were looted by the French during the colonial occupation and which were preserved in various French institutions, including objects that belonged to Emir Abdelkader, constitutes a major concerns expressed on the Algerian side during the 5th meeting that the Algerian-French commission responsible for the memory file held from May 20 to 23, 2024, at the headquarters of the National Archives in Birkhadem, in Algiers. In a statement given to Algerian Television, the president of the commission, Mohamed Lahcen Zeghidi, specified, at the end of this meeting, that property falling under the sovereignty of Algeria will be returned symbolically. For him, it is a question of concretizing all actions and commitments relating to memory, in particular the restitution of archives and looted property. The Algerian side submitted a list of relics of Emir Abdelkader, as a first request: his pistols, sabers, his burnous, and a tent too. The first are at the Condé museum, at the Château de Chantilly. The last one is at the Army Museum, in Les Invalides.
This confirms the importance that Algeria gives to the issue of memory and the recovery of all its historical and cultural heritage which is located abroad without exception. This file is not limited to the archives or the canon of Baba Merzoug which is located in Brest in France, but to properties whose list was established by the Algerian officials concerned and brought to the attention of their French interlocutors. Efforts have been made to raise awareness of the famous ”Baba Merzoug” cannon through a documentary film (produced in 2021) on this rare piece of artillery, and also through the organization of several conferences, with a view to bringing together the scientific and academic material capable of supporting the files of memory which have been examined with great wisdom. As a reminder, in 2023 the Algerian embassy in Bern managed to recover a 19th century rifle which was intended for auction in Zurich, Switzerland.
The question of the recovery of national historical and cultural heritage, tangible and intangible abroad, required the inventory of all the constituent elements of this heritage and the mobilization in this approach of all the actors in the historical and scientific fields on the basis of a scientific approach. At the same time, the State worked to crystallize a legal vision to support the Algerian file for the recovery of historical and cultural heritage. It is worth recalling the efforts of the State to recover a significant part of the archives from France, including 22 volumes of copies of diplomatic documents covering the colonial period (1954-1962), 600 historical documents dating from the Ottoman period and a rare and valuable manuscript which was seized by the French occupation administration in 1842, after an attack against Emir Abdelkader in the Ouarsenis mountains.
Lakhdar A.