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The German Foreign Minister is visiting Nigeria where he will personally return twenty works of art looted from the former kingdom of Benin, the current city of Benin City, in the south of the country. The German government pledged to return a total of more than 1,130 looted treasures.
With our correspondent in Lagos, Lisa Fabbian
Germany has made important commitments in recent months for the restitution of treasures looted in Nigeria, as Herman Parzinger, president of the Prussian Heritage Foundation, explained in Berlin. “ It was clear that we wanted a solution. The agreement signed at the end of August records the transfer of ownership to Nigeria of the more than 500 Benin bronzes in our possession. And 168 objects will remain here in Berlin as long-term loans “, he specifies.
► Also worth listening to: Germany: the bronzes of the former kingdom of Benin exhibited in Berlin before being returned
The bronzes were looted from the ancient kingdom of Benin in southern Nigeria. Most of the items were looted in 1897, when a British expedition attacked and destroyed Benin City, taking thousands of ivory and metal carvings with them.
After years of negotiations an agreement was concluded between Berlin and the Nigerian government for the return of the works which are distributed in about twenty German museums. By returning 20 objects to Nigerian territory, German diplomacy takes another step to ” heal the wounds of the past ” and “ keep in consideration [sa] dark colonial history “, Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock estimated on Twitter.
An inevitable movement
This movement for the return of treasures looted in the ancient kingdom of Edo is however inevitable, according to Peju Layiwola, a Nigerian artist and art historian. ” I think Westerners have realized that no matter how long these looted works of art sit in their museums, they can never claim ownership of them. It has become unpopular to show these works, so the best thing to do is to return them “, she believes.
The museums affected by these restitutions are that of the Linden in Stuttgart, the Grassi in Leipzig, the MARKK in Hamburg, the Rauten-Joest museum in Cologne, as well as the Ethnological Museum in Berlin. The Ethnological Museum of Berlin alone has 530 historical objects from the former kingdom of Benin, including 440 bronzes, considered the most important collection after that of the British Museum in London. This initiative is part of a series of measures taken recently by Germany to try to take over the crimes of the colonial period, such as the official recognition in May 2021 of a genocide perpetrated in Namibia.
Nigeria particularly wishes the British Museum to assume its responsibilities as well. The London institution alone contains more than 900 works plucked from the former kingdom of Benin.
►Read also : The Horniman Museum in London to return works looted in the 19th century to Nigeria (August 9, 2022)
