Madagascar has formally received three skulls from France, including one believed to be that of King Toera of the Sakalava people, who was beheaded by French troops in 1897 during the colonial conquest.

A state ceremony was held Tuesday at the Mausoleum in Antananarivo, with President Andry Rajoelina, government officials, and Sakalava dignitaries in attendance. Members of the Sakalava community, dressed in traditional robes, escorted the skulls—kept in boxes draped with the national flag—through the capital before their transfer to the king’s ancestral region in Belo Tsiribihina, where they are expected to be buried later this week.

The restitution follows a 2023 French law that facilitates the return of human remains taken during colonial expeditions. Previously, each case required special legislation. French Culture Minister Rachida Dati said a joint scientific committee confirmed the skulls’ origin but could only “presume” that one belonged to King Toera.

The remains had been kept in Paris’s National Museum of Natural History for 128 years alongside hundreds of other relics from Madagascar, which gained independence in 1960 after decades of colonial rule. The handover marks the first major restitution since the law’s passage and signals a growing effort by France to reconcile with its colonial past.