Germany and Nigeria on Friday signed an agreement paving the way for the return of hundreds of artifacts known as the Benin Bronzes that were taken from Africa more than 120 years ago — an accord that Nigerian officials hope will prompt other countries to follow suit.
Governments and museums in Europe and North America have increasingly sought to resolve ownership disputes over objects that were looted during colonial times.
A British colonial expedition looted vast quantities of treasures in 1897 from the royal palace of the Kingdom of Benin, in what is now southwestern Nigeria, including numerous bas-reliefs and sculptures.
Photo: EPA-EFE
The artifacts ended up spread far and wide. Hundreds were sold to collections such as the Ethnological Museum in Berlin, which has one of the world’s largest collections of historical objects from the Kingdom of Benin, estimated to include about 530 items, including 440 bronzes. Many of them date from the 16th to the 18th centuries.
Two pieces held by the museum — a commemorative head of a king and a relief slab depicting a king with four attendants — were handed over as German and Nigerian officials signed their “joint political declaration” at the German Federal Foreign Office in Berlin.
“This is just the beginning of more than 1,000 pieces from the Kingdom of Benin that are still in German museums, and they all belong to the people of Nigeria,” German Minister of Foreign Affairs Annalena Baerbock said. “It was wrong to take the bronzes; it was wrong to keep them for 120 years.”
Photo: AFP
The bronzes “are some of Africa’s greatest treasures, but they are also telling the story of colonial violence,” Baerbock said.
The Nigerian government, which in the past few years has stepped up its demands for the return of the Benin Bronzes, said the accord would pave the way for the return of 1,130 pieces.
It described it as the “single largest repatriation of artifacts anywhere in the world.”
“Germany has taken the lead in correcting the wrongs of the past,” Nigerian Minister of Information and Culture Lai Mohammed said.
He added that he expects the move to “become a harbinger of more repatriation of cultural property.”
Germany last year announced its intention to return the Benin Bronzes that ended up there.
Officials did not give a timeline for the return of the remaining artifacts, but the Ethnological Museum said that an agreement on the rest of the bronzes it holds would follow later this year. The authority that oversees the museum said that it expects to keep some on long-term loan.
Baerbock said that she is looking forward to seeing bronzes “on holidays in Germany.”
Friday’s agreement provides for museum cooperation between Germany and Nigeria.
Germany is helping Nigeria set up a new museum in Benin City, where bronzes would be displayed, Baerbock said.
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