The British Museum has renewed its loan of 15 pieces of Asante regalia to Ghana for another three years, extending an arrangement that returned the objects to Kumasi for display in the country where they were made. The renewal was announced after a visit to Ghana by the museum's director, Nicholas Cullinan.

The regalia, which includes gold ornaments and ceremonial objects, is on loan to the Manhyia Palace Museum in Kumasi, the seat of the Asante king. The pieces were taken from Kumasi during the Anglo-Asante wars of the nineteenth century and have been held in London ever since. Their return on loan, rather than permanently, reflects the British Museum's position that the law prevents it from giving objects away.

The Victoria and Albert Museum is also renewing its loan of 17 Asante objects to the same museum, so the two London institutions are continuing a coordinated programme of loans that has put a significant group of Asante treasures back on show in Ghana.

The extension keeps the objects in Kumasi while the wider debate over restitution continues. For the Manhyia Palace Museum, the loans mean visitors in Ghana can see regalia that forms part of Asante royal heritage in the city where it was created and used. The objects include gold regalia worn and used by the Asante court, pieces whose craftsmanship and symbolism make them central to the kingdom's heritage. The loans began when the two museums first sent Asante objects back to Ghana on long-term loan, an arrangement that has now been extended.