Nigeria got delightful Christmas gifts from Germany during the week when the country returned 22 priceless Benin bronzes, with many still to come.
IN 1897, the British led a punitive expedition to the ancient Benin Kingdom and destroyed it. During the invasion, the soldiers looted priceless artefacts, including bronze heads which found their way to different European countries. Some returned on Tuesday, 125 years after their departure.
Some of the artefacts found their way to Germany. They ended up in government museums, including Berlin, Hamburg, Stuttgart and Cologne. On Tuesday, led by Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock, Germany began repatriating the artefacts to Nigeria at a ceremony in Abuja. The country had earlier, on July 7, legally transferred ownership of 1,130 Benin bronzes in German public museums to Nigeria.
“She comes back to where she belongs,” Baerbock said as she handed over a miniature mask of the Iyoba (Queen Mother), made of ivory and decorated with yellow glass pearls, red coral, and a crown of stylized electric catfish, one of 22 items returned at the event.
“It was wrong to steal these bronzes. It was wrong to keep these bronzes; it is long overdue to return them to their home. We see this as a first step. Many bronzes have been looted and stolen, so many will come back. This step is also important because we are dealing with our dark colonial past,” she added.
Baerbock further noted Nigeria’s loss of the artefacts and how Germany would have felt were she in Nigeria’s shoes: “To not be able to marvel at the Gutenberg Bible in Mainz? To be unable to admire Martin Luther’s writings? To stand in front of a sculpture by Käthe Kollwitz in Berlin or at Goethe’s desk in Weimar? It evokes a sense of loss I can hardly imagine. However, this loss has been your reality to you here in Nigeria. What we are returning today are not mere objects to you and the Nigerian people. What we are returning is a part of your history and a part of who you are.
“Today, we are here to return the Benin Bronzes to where they belong, to the people of Nigeria. We are here to right a wrong because officials from my country once bought the Bronzes knowing they had been robbed and stolen. We ignored Nigeria’s plea to return looted bronzes for a long time. It was wrong to take them but also to keep them. This is the story of European colonialism. It is a story in which our country plays a part, but we are correcting the wrongdoings today.”
Germany’s Minister of State for Culture, Claudia Roth, hailed the historic occasion and apologized for her country’s previous inaction. “We closed our eyes for too long, refusing to recognize the injustice surrounding these bronzes on display in our museums or stored in storage for many years. By returning these bronzes, we want to make a statement. We believe everyone has a right to experience their cultural heritage where it originated, in its homeland, because heritage is handed down from generation to generation and into the future. This heritage is part of your cultural identity, but you were denied for 125 years.” She disclosed that more Benin bronzes would be returned and requested Nigeria to consider loaning some to German museums.
Tourism and Culture Minister, Alhaji Lai Mohammed, hailed the momentous occasion while recalling how the repatriation process began. “A moment comes in the history of humankind that we are beckoned upon to do what is right. This moment beckoned, and Germany seized it. Forever, Nigeria, Africa and all of humanity will remember and always cherish this time when Germany stood by us.”
He noted how the world cynically reacted when Germany announced it was returning the artefacts and how the decision has made repatriation negotiations with other nations, institutions and museums swifter. “Twenty years ago, even ten years ago, nobody could have anticipated these bronzes returning to Nigeria because the obstacles to achieving repatriation were seemingly insurmountable. But today, the story has changed with the pioneering gesture of a friendly nation, Germany. The negotiations were not as easy as things look today. They were stormy at times. But the sincerity of the Germans played a big role in resolving knotty issues.”
The Minister had a message for those insisting Nigeria has no infrastructure to house the bronzes if they were returned. “I am happy to inform you that the Federal Government of Nigeria is embarking on infrastructural development around the National Museum in Benin City. This will be in addition to the infrastructural developments other stakeholders are initiating in Nigeria and the immense support of foreign partners, particularly Germany. Easily, Benin City will become a cultural hub for Africa.”
Mohammed then called out those holding on to Nigeria’s artefacts, singling out Britain. “We call on all other nations, institutions, museums and private collectors still holding on to Nigerian antiquities to release them. Particularly, we call on the British Museum to release the more than 900 Benin Bronzes in its hold. A year has passed since Nigeria submitted an official letter to the British Museum demanding the return of Nigerian antiquities in this museum. Yet there has been no reply of any kind. I visited in July this year, hoping the success recorded with the Germans would nudge the British Museum to do what is right. But I met a brick wall. The British Museum and all those holding on to our artefacts must understand that repatriation is a cause that time has come. They must also understand that many of these cultural objects are not mere art to us but the true essence of our being. They are not mere decorative works but our culture and heritage. They belong here, not anywhere else!”
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He added that Nigeria is seeking the return of “Benin Bronzes and all Nigerian antiquities that were illegally or illicitly exported. Upon returning these artefacts, true justice will be seen to have been done.”
The Foreign Affairs Minister, Geoffrey Onyeama, expressed Nigeria’s gratitude to Germany for returning the artefacts, noting that “beyond their aesthetic value, they have cultural and spiritual importance to the Nigerian people.”
The Minister, who also commended the cordial relationship between Nigeria and Germany in several areas, including trade and resolving our humanitarian crisis asked other countries, notably Britain, to return Nigeria’s Benin bronzes on moral grounds.
He recalled Britain’s refusal to return the Queen Idia mask when Nigeria wanted to host the second Festival of Arts and Culture (FESTAC ’77). “When we wanted to host the global historical event, we could not use its original mask that we intended for the festival. This is because it is in a museum in the United Kingdom in Britain and we asked that at least they should lend it to us even though it belongs to us. Guess what? The answer from Britain was no. So, we had to have a replica of the mask we used.”
Since launching the National Campaign for the Restitution/Return of Nigeria’s antiquities in 2019, the country has recorded appreciable progress.
In October 2020, the Netherlands returned a 600-year-old Ife Terracotta. The University of Aberdeen and Jesus College of the University of Cambridge have also returned Benin Bronzes. The Metropolitan Museum in New York returned Ife and Benin Bronzes; the Smithsonian in Washington, the National Gallery of Art of the United States and the Rhodes Island School of Design also released Benin Bronzes with them.
The Horniman Museums and Gardens, London, signed the legal transfer of 72 Benin Bronzes in October 2022. The Pitt Rivers Museum of the University of Oxford, Ashmolean Museum of the University of Oxford and the Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology of the University of Cambridge; Glasgow City Council in Scotland, National Museums of Scotland and other institutions are working towards repatriating Benin bronzes in their possession.
