GERMANY TRANSFER OWNERSHIP OF LOOTED BENIN BRONZES TO THE NIGERIA

Fri 26 August 2022:

The Benin Bronzes, which rank among the most important cultural artifacts in Africa and were stolen during the 19th century, will now belong to Nigeria after Germany signed a contract transferring ownership.

The Foundation for Prussian Cultural Heritage (SPK) and the National Commission for Museums and Monuments (NCMM) of Nigeria signed on Thursday to transfer ownership of the Berlin Ethnological Museum collection to Nigeria.

When British troops invaded the Kingdom of Benin, which was located in what is now southwestern Nigeria, in 1897, they confiscated hundreds of bronzes, which are elaborate sculptures and plaques dating back to the 13th century and earlier.

MUSEUMS IN OXFORD COULD RETURN STOLEN NIGERIAN ARTIFACTS

According to French art historians, 90 percent of Africa’s cultural heritage is believed to be in Europe. As Western institutions contend with the cultural legacy of colonialism, African countries have long attempted to reclaim works pillaged by explorers and colonisers.

African nations tried for years to get their hands on the artifacts after they ended up in museums all around Europe and the United States.

In July, Germany gave the first sculpture to Nigeria.

Thursday’s agreement, which the SPK described as the most extensive transfer of museum artefacts from a colonial context to date, covers 512 objects which ended up in Berlin in the aftermath of the 1897 looting.

The first objects will be physically returned to Nigeria this year. About a third of the treasures will remain on loan in Berlin for at least 10 years and exhibited at the Humboldt Forum in Berlin. The loan might 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.

He urged museums outside Germany to emulate the agreement.

Claudia Roth, the German Commissioner for Culture and the Media, said it was an example for museums in Germany holding colonial-era collections, and that more agreements will follow in the following months.

SOURCE: INDEPENDENT PRESS AND NEWS AGENCIES

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