The Netherlands has change into the most recent nation to comply with return the Benin Bronzes, artworks looted by the British from the Kingdom of Benin, in present-day Nigeria, in 1897.
The Dutch authorities returned 119 objects, together with brass and bronze sculptures, plaques, ornate pendants, and different objects stolen from shrines and altars.
At a ceremony on the Wereldmuseum (World Museum) in Leiden, the Dutch minister of tradition, Eppo Bruins, legally transferred possession of 113 objects from the Dutch state assortment and 6 from the municipality of Rotterdam to the Nigerian authorities.
“With this return, we’re contributing to the redress of a historic injustice that’s nonetheless felt at the moment,” Bruins mentioned in an announcement. “Heritage is crucial for telling and experiencing the historical past of a rustic and neighborhood. The Benin Bronzes are due to this fact indispensable for Nigeria, it’s good that they’re returning.”
As soon as the objects are bodily returned, the Nigerian authorities will determine the place and show them, Zdenka Fieggen, the Wereldmuseum’s communications director, instructed The Artwork Newspaper. She provides that the events are nonetheless in discussions about when and the place the switch will happen.
The Kingdom of Benin, famend for its brass and bronze craftsmanship, ornamented its palaces and temples with extraordinary objects. In 1897, the British led a punitive expedition, pillaging these objects and promoting them. At this time, they’re in 160 establishments worldwide.
A Benin Bronze within the assortment of the Wereldmuseum, Leiden
Photograph: Boudewijn Bollmann
In 2022, the German authorities reached an settlement to return greater than 1,000 of its Benin works to Nigeria. In the identical 12 months, In the identical 12 months, the Smithsonian Establishment within the US introduced that it will would repatriate 29 such artefacts.
Within the UK, the government-funded Horniman Museum & Gardens in London returned Benin Bronzes to Nigeria in 2022. The British Museum in London, which owns round 900 Benin Bronzes, is prohibited from eradicating gadgets from its assortment on a everlasting foundation beneath a UK legislation from 1963. There have been protests from members of the general public and statements from Nigerian authorities officers demanding their return.
In an announcement despatched to The Artwork Newspaper, the British Museum mentioned it “understands and recognises the importance of the problems surrounding the return of objects and works with communities, colleagues, and museums throughout the globe to share the gathering as broadly as doable”.
The assertion continued: “We’re working with the Museum of West African Artwork (MOWAA) [in Benin City], the Nationwide Fee for Museums and Monuments (NCMM), the Cambridge Archaeological Unit and Wessex Archaeology on the bottom in Benin Metropolis to assist prepare a brand new technology of Nigerian archaeologists and develop a blueprint for finest follow in preconstruction archaeology in Nigeria.
“This partnership focuses on creating a specialist archaeological venture crew inside MOWAA to assist the development of [the museum’s research and collections centre] the Pavilion. To do that we’re supporting first of their variety excavations to be taught extra in regards to the historical past of Benin Metropolis and are sharing and exchanging skilled expertise and experience in addition to providing fieldwork alternatives within the UK.”
The 113 gadgets being returned from the Netherlands have been a part of the Dutch nationwide assortment for the reason that early 1900s. The Dutch authorities’s resolution adopted the recommendation of the Dutch Fee on Colonial Collections, following intensive provenance analysis on the historical past of the work’s acquisitions that was printed in October.
“The objects have been wrongfully delivered to the Netherlands throughout the colonial interval, acquired beneath duress or by looting,” states the Dutch ministry’s web site.
The identical fee has beforehand really useful plenty of high-profile returns of artefacts and cultural heritage gadgets with colonial histories from different international locations. Based mostly on its suggestions, Dutch returned 288 gadgets to Indonesia in September 2024, and 478 objects of cultural significance to Indonesia and Sri Lanka in 2023.
Round 50 Benin works have been on show on the Wereldmuseum, whereas the remainder have been in storage. They’ll stay on show till 9 March, after which they’ll be despatched to Nigeria.
