Netherlands To Repatriate 119 Looted Benin Bronzes To Nigeria
LAGOS FEBRUARY 20TH (NEWSRANGERS)-The Netherlands is returning 119 Benin Bronzes to Nigeria, marking one of the largest repatriations of the looted artifacts to date. The bronzes, plundered by British forces in 1897 and later acquired by Dutch institutions, will be transferred following an agreement signed by Dutch and Nigerian officials, as momentum for restitution efforts continues to grow worldwide.
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The transfer agreement was signed on February 19 by Dutch culture minister Eppo Bruins and Olugbile Holloway, director general of the Nigerian National Commission for Museums and Monuments at the Wereldmuseum in Leiden.
“With this return, we are contributing to the redress of a historical injustice that is still felt today,” said Bruins, who decided to return the bronzes. “Heritage is essential for telling and experiencing the history of a country and community. The Benin Bronzes are therefore indispensable for Nigeria, it is good that they are returning.”
Holloway thanked the Netherlands for its cooperation, adding that he hopes “this will be a good example in the field of the return of lost or looted antiquities for other countries worldwide.”
The Dutch National Collection is returning 113 bronzes that are currently held at the Wereldmuseum in Leiden. They include many figurines, an axe, a relief plaque, a hair ornament, pipe bowl, and a horn. In addition, the municipality of Rotterdam will return six more objects stolen in 1897 to Nigeria. These are a bell, three relief plates, a coconut holder, and a staff.
Over the past five years, Western museums have been taking action to return looted Benin Bronzes, but some countries are lagging behind others. Germany led the way in 2022 by concluding a deal to repatriate over 1,000 bronzes from various collections, including 92 from Cologne.
That same year, the Horniman became the first U.K. museum to repatriate its collection of 72 Benin Bronzes to Nigeria. The British Museum, however, has rejected calls to repatriate any items in its collection, citing the British Museum Act of 1963, which forbids it from deaccessioning objects unless they are “unfit to be retained.” This includes some 900 Benin objects, the largest holding in the world.
Several more museums in the U.K., the U.S., Austria, Ireland, Canada, Switzerland, and Belgium continue to hold Benin Bronzes, according to a comprehensive guide by Artnet News. The precious bronzes were looted by the British in the aftermath of a brutal military expedition to Benin City in 1897. They were intended to be sold on, which is how they have ended up at institutions across the West.
“In the context of colonial warfare, looting was not an exceptional event,” noted the provenance researchers Henrietta Lidchi, Rosalie Hans, and Annette Schmidt, who studied the 113 Benin objects at the Wereldmuseum. “It was an integral part of the machinery of British imperialism that compensated for the cost of warfare and was used to finance military actions.”
“The British government and its military forces presumed that cultural heritage property taken in war belonged to the British Crown,” they explained. “British forces used several systems to profit from, and disperse property seized: the value of looted material could be sold at auction by a prize agent, effectively a valuer and auctioneer who represented the Crown and had the responsibility to set up the auction.”
The researchers concluded that the Dutch museums that bought Benin bronzes were aware that they had been looted during the British attack on Benin City.
Bruins and the municipality of Rotterdam decided to return 113 and six objects, respectively, on the recommendation of an advisory report published by the Dutch Commission for Colonial Collections. It’s recommendation was based on provenance research conducted by the Wereldmuseum and quoted above.
This is the fifth time that the Netherlands has returned objects based on the Commission’s advice. The first was in 2023, when 500 cultural artifacts were returned to Indonesia and Sri Lanka in an agreement that was heralded as a “historic moment” by the Dutch state secretary Gunay Uslu. It marked the beginning of a successful new approach towards repatriation in the Netherlands.
A few others groups have been returned since. Last fall, a significant group of 288 objects were returned to Indonesia. These included four Hindu-Buddhist sculptures brought to the Netherlands from Java in the early 19th century and 284 treasures from the Puputan Badung Collection, which came to the Netherlands in 1906 and includes coins, jewellery, textiles, and weapons.
Last month, seven objects, including a shield and musical instruments, were returned from the Wereldmuseum Leiden to the indigenous tribe Ysleta del Sur Pueblo of Texas. The museum’s provenance research revealed that the items had been collected by means of force and bribery.
The Commission is currently advising on requests from Sri Lanka, India, and Indonesia.
artnet
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Posted by News Rangers
on Feb 20 2025. Filed under Entertainment, International, National.
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