The physical remains of Saartje Baartman were finally repatriated today after 200 years of tragic separation from her home country. The young Khoisan woman was taken from South Africa in the early 1800s to be exhibited as the renowned “Hottentot Venus” throughout Western Europe. After her early death in Paris five years later, Saartje’s genitalia was dissected and preserved for publicly display at the Museum of Mankind. South African Minister of Arts and Culture Brigette Mabandla today called the repatriation “the home coming of a beloved sister.”
