The portable thrones of the dead
In the royal palaces of Abomey and in museums across Europe and America, there are objects that look at first like metal trees. A central stem rises from a circular base, branching at the top into a flattened disc or a series of rings, from which hang small bells, chains, and miniature symbols. They are called Asen, and they are the sacred technology of ancestor veneration in Fon culture.
Asen are not art in the Western sense. They are functional spiritual objects — portable altars that provide a dwelling place for the spirit of a deceased king or noble ancestor. Through them, the living communicate with the dead, offer sacrifices, and maintain the bond between the visible world and the invisible one.
What is an Asen?
An asen (plural: asen) is a metal altar, typically cast in brass or forged in iron, standing between 30 and 80 centimetres tall. It has three essential parts:
The Base: A circular or rectangular platform, often decorated with geometric patterns, representing the earth and the foundation of the lineage.
The Stem: A central column that connects the earthly realm to the spiritual realm, sometimes twisted or adorned with spirals.
The Crown: The top section, shaped as a disc, an umbrella, or a series of rings, from which hang bells and symbolic attachments. The crown represents the sky and the realm of the ancestors.
Small bells attached to the crown ring when the asen is moved or when offerings are placed, alerting the ancestor to the presence of the living.
Asen and the cult of royal ancestors
In Fon cosmology, death does not end a person's existence. It transforms it. A king who dies becomes an ancestor — more powerful than when he lived, but also dependent on the living for offerings and remembrance. If neglected, an ancestor's spirit may wander, angry and forgotten.
The asen solves this problem. It provides a fixed dwelling place for the ancestor's spirit. The family or the priesthood makes offerings at the asen — typically food, palm wine, and the blood of sacrificed animals — and the ancestor in turn provides protection, fertility, and guidance.
For kings, the asen ceremony was integrated into the annual Huetanu (Royal Customs), where the spirits of dead kings were summoned to the asen and offered sacrifices. The most important royal asen were kept in dedicated ancestor huts within the palace complex, attended by a specific priesthood.
Craftsmanship: How Asen are made
The creation of an asen is itself a spiritual act. The metals used are chosen for their symbolic properties:
Brass (gaglo in Fon): Associated with royalty, wealth, and permanence. Brass asen were reserved for kings and high nobles.
Iron (gu): Associated with Gu, the Vodun of iron and war. Iron asen were used by warriors and commoners.
Mixed metals: Some asen combine both, the brass representing the spiritual and the iron representing the earthly.
The casting process uses the lost-wax technique, the same method used for the famous Benin bronzes. The artist first creates a model in beeswax, coats it in clay, then heats it so the wax melts and runs out. Molten metal is poured into the clay mould. When the mould is broken, the asen emerges.
Each asen is unique, created specifically for the ancestor it will serve. The symbols attached to the crown identify the ancestor — a sword for a warrior king, a cowrie shell for a wealthy trader, a fish for a king whose symbol was a shark or a fish.
Royal Asen: The kings in metal
Each king of Dahomey had an asen created after his death. The asen served as his spiritual residence and as a focus for the rituals that maintained the dynasty's connection to its founders.
The asen of King Glele (reigned 1858-1889) is topped with a lion, his royal symbol. That of King Behanzin bears a shark. King Ghezo's asen carries a buffalo. These symbols match the bas-reliefs on the palace walls and the applique textiles that bear the kings' emblems.
The oldest royal asen are those of the dynasty's founders: Houegbadja, Akaba, and Agadja. These are kept in the most restricted areas of the palace, accessible only to the priesthood and the reigning king.
Asen in museums
The asen in museums today present a complex legacy. Many were taken from Dahomey during the colonial period — some seized as war trophies, others sold by families who could no longer maintain the rituals, others given as diplomatic gifts.
The major collections include:
Musee du Quai Branly (Paris): Holds the largest collection of Dahomey asen outside Benin, including several royal asen taken after the French conquest in 1894.
British Museum (London): A significant collection of Fon asen, acquired through colonial officers and missionaries.
Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology (Cambridge): A specialised collection with detailed provenance records.
Musee Historique d'Abomey: The largest collection in Benin itself, including asen that never left the country.
The presence of asen in foreign museums raises questions that mirror the broader restitution debate. These are not simply artworks. They are active spiritual objects, intended to receive offerings. An asen in a museum case, disconnected from the rituals that give it meaning, is incomplete.
Asen and Vodun
Asen are not Vodun fetishes in the strict sense, but they operate within the Vodun spiritual framework. The Vodun pantheon includes deities who inhabit natural forces — thunder, iron, the sea. Asen are not these. They are mediators specifically for human ancestors, occupying a different category of spiritual being.
However, the rituals around asen draw on Vodun practices: the use of palm wine, the sacrifice of animals, the consultation of diviners (bokonon) to determine the ancestor's needs. The boundary between ancestor cult and Vodun is not sharp — they overlap and reinforce each other.
Visiting the Asen in Abomey
Visitors to the Royal Palaces of Abomey can see several asen in the museum collection. The best examples are displayed in the Palace of King Glele, where the museum has reconstructed a traditional ancestor shrine to show how the asen were used.
The museum guides can explain the symbolism of each asen and identify the kings they represent. For visitors interested in the deeper spiritual meaning, the guides can arrange a meeting with a traditional priest who still performs the rituals.
What to look for: The bells, the royal symbols on the crown, the condition of the metal (some show centuries of palm oil offerings), and the spatial arrangement — asen are not displayed as isolated art objects but as parts of a spiritual ensemble.
Photography: Permitted in the museum, but ask before photographing the asen in the ancestral shrine area.
Explore further: Bocio — Fon Magical Statuettes · Fa Divination — The Oracle of Dahomey · The Fon People · Royal Palaces of Abomey · Ouidah Origins · Visit Ganvie
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