Just one day after an agreement was reached between Germany and Nigeria on the so-called Benin Bronzes, the Linden Museum in Stuttgart is expecting a distinguished visitor from the African country. Nigeria’s National Museums and Monuments Authority Director-General Abba Tijani will be received for talks on Wednesday afternoon. The main focus is on the 78 objects from the former royal house of Benin, including 64 bronzes that were considered colonial loot.
It was announced on Tuesday that a declaration of intent would be signed in Berlin next Friday. This should clear the way for the transfer of ownership of the valuable art objects. As a result, Baden-Württemberg’s Science Minister Theresia Bauer (Greens) announced that the state had taken the first steps to return the art objects. The Linden Museum will identify specific objects and talk about it with the Nigerian side. “I am very confident that we will now quickly come to comprehensive returns, especially from the Linden Museum,” Bauer told the German Press Agency.
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 British looting in 1897. For many decades, museums and politicians in Germany had avoided talks about concrete agreements on transfers or even returns. Last year, representatives of the federal government, Nigeria and museums then announced the retransfer of ownership rights.
In addition to the Linden Museum, the Museum am Rothenbaum in Hamburg, the Rautenstrauch-Joest Museum in Cologne, the Ethnographic Museum in Dresden/Leipzig and the Ethnological Museum in Berlin also have the most extensive collections. So far, these five houses are involved in the planned transfer of ownership.
At the beginning of the year, Bauer was already convinced that the first stolen bronzes and other art treasures would be transferred to Nigeria in the course of this year. If it were up to her, the bronzes shouldn’t end there. Bauer is in favor of restitution of all Benin objects to Nigeria. A historic whip and a Bible from the Linden Museum collection had previously been returned to Namibia.
Museums cannot simply give away objects from their holdings, the responsibility lies with the sponsors, some of whom had already given the green light 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 so far,” said Minister of State for Culture Claudia Roth (Greens) 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 it 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.