cultural goods
Agreement with Nigeria on returns of Benin bronzes
The memorial heads of a king from the Kingdom of Benin. Photo: Daniel Reinhardt/dpa
© dpa-infocom GmbH
The Benin bronzes are at the center of the debate about colonial loot in German museums. Now there is an agreement with Nigeria about the valuable art objects. It is also about first returns.
Germany and Nigeria have reached an agreement on how to deal with the Benin bronzes in German museums, which are considered colonial loot.
According to information from the German Press Agency, Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock and Minister of State for Culture Claudia Roth (both Greens) will sign a declaration of intent with their Nigerian counterparts in Berlin on Friday, which will pave the way for the transfer of ownership of the valuable art objects.
The signing is planned at the Federal Foreign Office. Minister of Culture Lai Mohammed and Minister of State for Foreign Affairs Zubairo Dada are said to represent the Nigerian side.
Two bronzes are to be handed over immediately afterwards. According to dpa information, the pieces come from Berlin stocks. Around 1,100 of the ornate bronzes from the palace of what was then the Kingdom of Benin, which today belongs to Nigeria, can be found in around 20 German museums. Most of the objects come from the British looting of 1897.
Museums and politicians in Germany had avoided talks about concrete agreements for transfers or even returns for many decades. Last year, representatives of the federal government, Nigeria and museums then announced the retransfer of ownership rights.
The Linden Museum in Stuttgart, the Museum am Rothenbaum (Hamburg), the Rautenstrauch-Joest Museum (Cologne), the Ethnological Museum in Dresden/Leipzig and the Ethnological Museum in Berlin all have the most extensive collections. So far, these five houses are involved in the planned transfer of ownership.
Clear the way for repatriation this year
Museums cannot simply give away objects from their holdings. That is why they have already received the green light from individual carriers in the past. This week, the Board of Trustees of the Prussian Cultural Heritage Foundation, which is supported by the federal and state governments, cleared the way for repatriation later this year. Objects should be given to Nigeria “as quickly as possible”.
“The return of cultural assets cannot heal the wounds of brutal colonial rule, but it is a first step towards dealing with the past, which has largely been ignored up to now, in a new way,” Roth said in a statement on the decision of the foundation board, which she chairs. “People everywhere have a right to access their own cultural heritage. They should be able to decide for themselves how this is preserved and passed on to future generations.» The return of the Benin bronzes underscores the commitment to coming to terms with German colonial history. “It should be the beginning of a new, different cultural cooperation.”
Foundation President Hermann Parzinger spoke of a “completely new dimension of cooperation with our partners in Nigeria”. The repatriation is not the end point, but the beginning of a new quality of cooperation. “The fact that Nigeria is willing to let Germany have high-quality loans shows that we have built trust.”
A specific choice has not yet been made. “The objects that are not intended for loan should be transferred to Nigeria as quickly as possible in coordination with the Nigerian side,” said Parzinger.