Germany to begin returning Benin bronzes to Nigeria next year

 

Germany plans to start returning the artefacts known as the Benin bronzes that are held in its museums to Nigeria from next year, according to authorities. A colonial expedition by British soldiers seized thousands of metal castings and sculptures in 1897 during a raid on the Kingdom of Benin, then separate from British-ruled Nigeria.
The “bronzes” – actually copper alloy relief sculptures, many showing court figures – were auctioned off and then spread among institutions from New Zealand to Germany and the United States, with the biggest collection in London.
In recent years, calls have grown louder to return what was stolen, fuelled partly by a decolonisation movement sweeping across Europe.

“We are confronting our historic and moral responsibility,” German Culture Minister Monika Gruetters said in a joint statement issued with the foreign ministry and German museums late on Thursday.
“We want to contribute to a common understanding and reconciliation with the descendants of the people who were robbed of their cultural treasures during the times of colonialism,” Gruetters added, noting the first returns are planned for next year.
“Sadly, there is neither a precise time plan nor an unconditional commitment to restitute all looted artefacts,” said Juergen Zimmerer, professor of global history at the University of Hamburg.
He also noted it was not yet clear how many objects will be returned, or whether there will be any recognition of the efforts by civil society groups that had called for the restitution.
The Ethnologisches Museum in Berlin has more than 500 historical artefacts from the Kingdom of Benin in its collections, mostly bronzes.