Zimbabwe’s Sacred Stone Birds Reunited After 137 Years

The final chapter of a century-long quest for heritage concluded this week as the last of Zimbabwe’s eight iconic soapstone birds returned home.

On Tuesday, 14 April, South Africa repatriated the “Chapungu” sculpture and eight sets of ancestral remains, ending a displacement that began in 1889.

Looted by colonialists and sold to Cecil Rhodes, the bird remained in Cape Town for decades due to legal restrictions. South Africa has now bypassed these hurdles, pledging a “permanent repatriation” for the national icon. Its arrival marks a rare instance of an African nation returning artefacts to another.

The sculpture, a spiritual symbol for the Shona and Venda people, now joins its seven counterparts at the Great Zimbabwe ruins.

Zimbabwean President Emmerson Mnangagwa described the homecoming as “the return of a national icon”, timed perfectly for the nation’s independence anniversary today, Friday 17 April.

While the birds are celebrated as symbols of identity, the return of human remains addresses the “pseudoscience” of the colonial era. South African Minister Gayton McKenzie noted the importance of this act, stating: “These are not abstractions, but people… removed from their graves.”

After 137 years, the “house of stone” is finally whole again.

Image Credit: Source