From the second quarter of 2022, Germany will begin to transfer ownership of the Benin bronzes stored in German museums to Nigeria. This is what Andreas Görgen from the Federal Foreign Office said after his return from negotiations with Nigerian representatives in Abuja on Thursday. As soon as the planned museum pavilion, which is to be built in Benin City with German help, is to be handed over to Nigeria in a second step, a “substantial” part of the bronzes.
However, both sides also agree that at least some of the bronzes currently on display in German museums should remain in Germany on loan from Nigeria. According to Görgen, this construction could also become a model for the restitution of objects from other countries. It is also to become part of a deeper cooperation between museums in Germany and Nigeria, which, in addition to the construction of the museum in Benin City, also includes exchange programs, the training of curators and restorers and archaeological projects.
Germany owns around 1,100 Benin objects, most of which stem from a violent looting operation by the British in 1897. Almost half of them are in the Ethnological Museum in Berlin. Most of the remaining 600 pieces are in museums in Stuttgart, Hamburg, Cologne and Dresden. The approval of the respective museum owner is still required for the transfer of ownership. The federal government has already committed to the Berlin Museum, as has the city of Cologne and the state governments of Hamburg and Baden-Württemberg. Persuasion will only be necessary in Saxony.
The British Museum has so far been strictly against returns
“The German government and the German people have taken a courageous step by declaring their willingness to return the artefacts voluntarily and without great coercion on the part of Nigeria,” said Nigerian Information and Culture Minister Alhaji Lai Mohammed on Thursday. “In December a delegation from Nigeria will come to Germany and hold direct talks with the individual houses about the details of the return,” said Barbara Plankensteiner from the Berlin Dialogue Group, which has been holding talks about how to deal with the bronzes for years.
The restitution debate that has been going on for years has also resulted in concrete steps in other European countries. At the end of October, Jesus College in Cambridge will return a Benin bronze. The University of Aberdeen has also announced that it will return a bronze to Nigeria. This increases the pressure on the British Museum, which has the world’s largest collection of 900 Benin bronzes and has so far been strictly against returns. In the summer, Belgium announced that it wanted to restitute 2,000 objects from its former colony, the Congo, from the Africa Museum in Tervuren. In turn, France, whose President Emmanuel Macron had long pushed the debate, will now return a first group of works. Next Wednesday, Macron will officially seal the restitution of 26 objects from the former Kingdom of Dahomey to the country of Benin at a ceremony in Paris.