Germany is to return 20 Benin Bronzes to Nigeria seized during colonial times, Germany's Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock said.
“That will not heal all the wounds of the past. But together with the federal states, cities and museums, we are showing that Germany is serious about coming to terms with its dark colonial history,” she stated.
According to the minister, returning the artifacts to its homeland on Tuesday will allow Nigerians finally to see them with their own eyes.
At the same time, Baerbock pointed out that “coming to terms with colonial injustice also opens a new chapter in deeper cooperation with Nigeria”.
The Benin Bronzes, a collection of approximately 3,000 metal and ivory sculptures, were brought to London after the British Empire conquered Benin, a West African kingdom located in the territory of modern-day Nigeria, in 1897. A number of the sculptures were then sold and ended up dispersed throughout the world. In Germany alone, there are approximately 1,000 Benin sculptures to date.
In late August, Nigeria and Germany penned a deal to transfer ownership of the Benin Bronzes. It was agreed that Germany would repatriate to Nigeria 512 objects in total. However, the two countries’ joint statement read that "around a third of the objects transferred will remain in Berlin on loan for an initial period of 10 years and will be exhibited in the Humboldt Forum”.
Last week, the University of Cambridge announced that the return of 116 Benin Bronzes to Nigeria had been approved. At the same time, the university stated that some of the bronzes from its collection will stay within the institution for educational purposes and cultural representations of Benin.
Notably, most of the Benin Bronzes, are at present kept in Britain, particularly, in the British Museum, which unlike other institutions around the world, refuses to repatriate the artifacts. Justifying the refusal, the British Museum refers to a 1963 UK law that prohibits to remove any object permanently from the British Museum’s fund.
Last year, Jesus College Cambridge repatriated one bronze to Nigeria. This July, Germany returned two more bronzes to their homeland. In October, Washington's Smithsonian Institution handed 29 Benin bronzes back to Nigeria and in November, London's Horniman Museum repatriated six bronzes.