COTONOU, Dec. 23 (Xinhua) -- The Beninese government said here Wednesday that the country considers signing a contract with a company specializing in museography and scenography services to accommodate the 26 artworks that will be returned by the French authorities.

The artworks were royal objects of Abomey, capital of the Kingdom of Dahomey that flourished in the 18th-19th centuries in the region that is now southern Benin. The colonizing French army took them away after defeating the king in November 1892.

After years of discussions, France agreed to return the artworks which Benin plans to keep in the International Museum of Memory and Slavery in Ouidah, 38 km west of Benin's economic capital of Cotonou.

The Governor's Residence located in an ancient Portuguese fort in Ouidah is being refurbished to first welcome the artworks, said the Beninese government. Enditem