Germany signed an agreement on Thursday to transfer ownership to Nigeria of the Benin Bronzes. The bronze statues are among Africa’s most culturally significant artefacts which were looted in the 19th century.
British soldiers looted hundreds of bronzes – intricate sculptures and plaques dating back to the 13th century onwards – when they invaded the Kingdom of Benin, in 1897. The artefacts ended up in museums around Europe and the United States. African nations have for years fought to recover them.
In July, Germany returned the first of the sculptures to Nigeria. On Thursday, the Foundation of Prussian Cultural Heritage (SPK) and Nigeria’s National Commission for Museums and Monuments (NCMM) signed a deal transferring their ownership from the Ethnological Museum collection in Berlin to Nigeria, reported news agency Reuters.
The deal covers 512 objects which ended up in Berlin in the aftermath of the 1897 looting. SPK described it as the most extensive transfer of museum artefacts from a colonial context to date.
The first objects are set to be physically returned to Nigeria this year. About a third of the treasures are scheduled remain on loan in Berlin for at least 10 years. They will be exhibited at the Humboldt Forum in Berlin and the loan could be extended.
“This represents the future concerning the artefacts issue; a future of collaboration among museums, a future of according respect and dignity to the legitimate requests of other nations and traditional institutions,” said NCMM’s Abba Isa Tijani, requesting museums around to world to emulate Germany’s example.
Some 90% of Africa’s cultural heritage is believed to be in Europe, say French art historians. African countries have long sought to get back works looted by explorers and colonisers.
Earlier this month, London’s Horniman Museum said it would return 72 artefacts, including 12 brass plaques, to the Nigerian government, following a similar move by a Cambridge University college and a Paris museum last year.
