Africa

Another Benin Bronze Returned to Nigerian Embassy by Private Collector

This historic transfer marks continued repatriation efforts from Germany to Nigeria

July 05th, 2024
Anita Marsiglia, News from Berlin
20240705 Another Benin Bronze.jpg

On 29 April 2024, two officers from the Embassy of the Nigeria in Berlin took possession of a Benin Bronze Head that was voluntarily returned by a private collector.

Benin was long one of the most powerful states in West Africa. Its rulers traced their lineage to the kingdom of Ile-Ife, and they became wealthy and powerful in the 16th and 17th century by conquering neighbouring cities and states and becoming important partners in the new global networks of trade that linked Asia, Africa, Europe and the Americas.

In the 19th century, despite long-standing agreements with the rulers of Benin, the British sought to destroy Benin's independence, exploit its resources and subject its people to colonial rule. British members of the so-called Punitive Expedition divided up many of the ivory tusks, sculptures, sumptuous coral and brass and ivory objects that formed the royal collection and brought them to Britain, from where some of them were brought to Germany.

On 25 August 2022, a contract was signed on the transfer of ownership of the Benin objects from the Ethnologische Museum's collection to Nigeria. It concerned 512 works that arrived in Berlin as a result of the so-called British Punitive Expedition of 1897. This was the largest transfer of ownership of collection objects from a colonial context to date. Around a third of the objects transferred remained on loan in Berlin for an initial period of ten years and are exhibited at the Humboldt Forum.

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News from Berlin