Germany has signed an agreement to transfer ownership of 512 Benin Bronzes, hailed as the largest return of cultural artefacts looted from the continent in the 19th century.
The agreement was signed between the Foundation of Prussian Cultural Heritage (SPK) and Nigeria’s National Commission for Museums and Monuments (NCMM).
The first objects will be returned to Nigeria this year from the Ethnological Museum in Berlin, this was contained in a press release:
Press release from 08/25/2022
Ownership of all Berlin “Benin Bronzes” transferred to Nigeria – around a third of the works remain on loan in Berlin – further cooperation planned
Today Hermann Parzinger, President of the Prussian Cultural Heritage Foundation (SPK), and Abba Isa Tijani, Director General of the National Commission for Museums and Monuments (NCMM), signed the contract for the transfer of ownership of the Benin objects from the collection of the Ethnological Museum of the State Museums Berlin – Prussian cultural heritage in Nigeria. There are 512 works that came to Berlin as a result of the so-called British Punitive Expedition of 1897. This is the largest transfer of ownership of collection objects from a colonial context to date. The first objects will be returned to Nigeria this year. Around a third of the objects transferred will initially remain on loan in Berlin for ten years and will be exhibited in the Humboldt Forum.
Minister of State for Culture Claudia Roth explains: “This return is a role model for all museums in Germany that own collections from colonial contexts. I am very pleased that further return agreements are to come in the coming months. All these efforts form the basis for further and more intensive cultural cooperation between Nigeria and Germany.”
Hermann Parzinger, President of the SPK: “I am pleased that only a few weeks after the first symbolic handover of two objects on the occasion of the signing of the political declaration on July 1, 2022 in the Federal Foreign Office, we are now also taking ownership of our entire Benin holdings could transfer to Nigeria. The fact that we are initially keeping a third of the objects on long-term loan and are able to show them in changing presentations in the Humboldt Forum in the halls on art and culture in Benin, past and present, fills us with great gratitude and underscores the great trust placed in the arose from joint discussions over the last few years. We have thus laid a solid foundation for long-term and diverse cooperation in the future.
Abba Tijani, Director General of NCMM Nigeria said: “This represents the future in terms of issuance of artifacts; a future of collaboration between museums, a future where respect and dignity are accorded to the legitimate claims of other nations and traditional institutions. “Other museums outside of Germany are hereby invited to emulate the Prussian Cultural Heritage Foundation. It is noteworthy and worth noting that the other German museums are already preparing the remaining antiquities for repatriation to Nigeria in accordance with the agreement signed on July 1, 2022”.
For years, national and international attempts have been made to find a solution for dealing with the “Benin bronzes”, which ended up in various collections around the world after the British troops conquered the Kingdom of Benin in 1897. After the conquest, Oba Ovonramwen, the last independent king, was exiled to the city of Calabar and the royal palace was sacked. Thousands of objects were shipped to London as spoils of war and sold there. Hundreds more of the looted objects remained in colonial Nigeria for a while, but then ended up in European and North American museums via networks of European and African businessmen and dealers. The Berlin museum also benefited from the colonial system and its “acquisitions” made possible by violence. Since 2010 it has been a member of the Benin Dialogue Group, in which European museums discuss the future of Benin objects in their collections together with Nigerian partners. The negotiations between Germany and Nigeria, which began at government level in 2021, were successfully concluded in July this year with the signing of a joint declaration that provides the framework for returns from all German museums.
All variants of art from Benin can be found among the loans. Lars-Christian Koch, director of the Ethnological Museum and the Museum of Asian Art, says: “I am grateful that we can show the outstanding art from Benin in all its facets in the Humboldt Forum. Together with the Nigerian partners, we have completely revised the originally planned presentation. We tell the story of the Kingdom of Benin and its conquest, and in addition to the historical objects we also show works by contemporary artists, such as films, textiles or bronze castings, which are still produced in a traditional way today.”
Two rooms in the Humboldt Forum are dedicated to art from the Kingdom of Benin and its history. The first room will feature the memorial head of a queen mother, or iyoba, a showpiece of Benin court art. The meaning and history of the objects and the collection and their return are presented in this room. A video installation shows 10 actors who participated in the process. Around 30 historical objects were selected for the second room, which show the entire spectrum of courtly art in Benin. They are contrasted with contemporary art from Nigeria, which still uses traditional techniques today. A larger discussion area offers space for mediation activities, workshops and exchange. The presentation in the Humboldt Forum was closely coordinated with the Nigerian partners. Over the next ten years it will be redesigned again and again in order to bring the diversity and enormous quality of historical and contemporary art from Nigeria closer to the public. The Nigerian side is also helping to shape the mediation program, including through mediators from the NCMM, who are already in Berlin as part of a residency.
