The Netherlands will return 119 Benin Bronzes to Nigeria. This restitution is the largest return of Benin antiquities directly linked to the 1897 British punitive expedition.
Of the 119 objects being returned, 113 come from the Dutch National Collection. The remaining six were held by the Municipality of Rotterdam, including a bell, three relief plaques, a coconut holder, and a staff, all looted in 1897.
“Art and heritage belong where they belong,” said Rotterdam city councilor Said Kasmi, according to NOS.
The Netherlands is returning the Benin Bronzes unconditionally. The artifacts are expected to arrive in Nigeria later this year, reflecting the ongoing collaboration between the two nations. The Dutch museum described the return as the start of further cooperation between museums in Nigeria and the Netherlands.
The Nigerian government has been requesting the return of the Benin Bronzes since its independence in 1960 and has made formal requests to countries, reflecting a broader international movement to repatriate African artifacts looted during colonialism. In recent years, artworks, including approximately 1,100 objects from five German museums, have been returned, with similar actions taken by Scottish, British, and French museums amid growing pressure on Western institutions to address their colonial-era acquisitions.
The signing ceremony for the return agreement took place at the Wereldmuseum in Leiden, where the Benin Bronzes were previously displayed.
“With this return, we contribute to the restoration of a historical injustice that is still felt today,” said Nigeria’s Minister of Education, Culture, and Science Eppo Bruins, according to NOS. “Cultural heritage is essential for telling and experiencing the history of a country and community. The Benin Bronzes are indispensable to Nigeria. It is good that they are going back.”
“We thank the Netherlands for their cooperation and hope this will set a good example for other nations of the world in terms of repatriation of lost or looted antiquities,” said Nigeria’s Director-General of the National Commission for Museums and Monuments (NCMM), Olugbile Holloway, according to DutchNews.nl.
British soldiers looted thousands of shrines, reliefs, and carved ivory objects from Benin City during the punitive expedition in 1897. These artifacts, intended to honor ancestors and used during ceremonies, were taken from the city. The palace of the Oba (the king) in Benin City, which had been the flourishing center of the kingdom for centuries, was destroyed.
The British Museum, which has the largest Benin collection with nine hundred objects, has refused to return them, citing legal restrictions. Germany returned 1,030 Benin Bronzes to Nigeria in 2022.
The Dutch government said its decision followed the recommendation of an independent expert committee and is in line with Dutch policy on the restitution of objects from a colonial context.
The transfer agreements were signed by Minister Bruins and Director-General Holloway, with high-level guests in attendance, including Babatunde Adebiyi, Legal Director of NCMM, and Nnenne Ebekaku, Chargé d’Affaires of the Nigerian Embassy in the Netherlands.
“This is the fifth time the Netherlands has returned works on the advice of the Commissie Koloniale Collecties,” reported NRC Handelsblad.
The restitution is not a surprise; in 2021, provenance research by the Wereldmuseum revealed that the Dutch National Collection possessed 114 Benin objects traceable to the violent British colonial plundering in 1897. From the provenance research, it was already clear that the buyers of the works at the time were aware of how they had come onto the market.
The article was written with the assistance of a news analysis system.
This article was originally published at www.jpost.com
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