Explained: The Benin bronzes being returned to Nigeria and why they are culturally significant

The Benin bronzes are coming home to Nigeria.

The University of Cambridge is set to return over 100 artefacts to the country and transfer legal ownership to the Nigerian National Commission for Museums and Monuments – approval for which was granted by the UK Charity Commission.

The commission concluded the university was “under a moral obligation” to return the pieces.

But what are the Benin bronzes? Why are they being returned? Let’s take a closer look:

The Benin bronzes are famous artefacts originally from Nigeria.

The Kingdom of Benin, which despite its name was located in what is now southwestern Nigeria, traces its roots back to the first century BC.

It expanded through military conquest and commerce, which with the arrival of Europeans in the 16th Century developed into trade in slaves, ivory and spices.

Hailed by experts as the peak of African art, thousands of 16th to 18th Century metal plaques, sculptures and objects were looted from the ancient Kingdom of Benin when a British military expedition attacked and destroyed Benin City in 1897, and exiled the Oba (king).

As per the Cambridge University website, the British mounted a ‘Punitive Expedition’ in response to a trade dispute.

The pieces were then taken to London and put on auction in order to cover the costs of the military adventure.

The pieces eventually ended up scattered across the US and Europe – either in museums or with art collectors.

A university spokesperson told BBC some pieces would remain in Cambridge on “extended loan, ensuring that this West African civilisation continues to be represented in the museum’s displays, and in teaching for school groups”.

“Those that return physically will be transferred to the National Commission for Museums and Monuments, as is required legally by the Republic of Nigeria - an approach formally supported by the Oba of Benin.”

Why are they being returned?

The repatriation is part of a worldwide movement by cultural institutions to return artifacts that were often stolen during colonial wars.

Experts say such moves are long overdue.

“Claims for restitution of these artefacts date back to the mid-twentieth century, and have intensified in recent years,” as per the Cambridge University website.

The BBC quoted professor Nicholas Thomas, the University’s Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology (MAA) director as saying, “Across the international museum sector, there is growing recognition that illegitimately acquired artefacts should be returned to their countries of origin."

The repatriation of the objects was a long time coming in the opinion of historian Benedicte Savoy.

“The requests for return go back to independence in the 1960s. They have been silenced, refused, forgotten for years,” she told AFP.

Cambridge University isn’t alone in returning these objects.

Germany in September said it would repatriate dozens of Benin bronzes to Nigeria.

That move came the latest in a series of steps taken by Germany to try to take responsibility for the crimes of the colonial era, including the official recognition in May 2021 of a genocide perpetrated by Germany in Namibia.

In November 2021, France returned 26 artefacts from the royal treasures of Abomey to the country of Benin next to Nigeria.

In August, the Horniman Museum and Gardens in London announced that it would transfer a collection of 72 Benin bronzes to the Nigerian government.

Benin earlier this year inaugurated an exhibition of artworks and treasures returned by France after two years of negotiations.

Those 26 pieces were stolen in 1892 by French colonial forces from the capital of the former Kingdom of Dahomey.

In October, a US museum returned 31 culturally precious objects to the Nigerian government including the bronze sculpture of a West African king that had been in their collection for more than 70 years.

The Benin bronzes including a piece called the “Head of a King” or “Oba” from the Rhode Island School of Design Museum, were transferred to the Nigerian National Collections during a ceremony at the Smithsonian Institution in Washington, DC.

The pressure is also growing on the British Museum, which has around 700 bronzes. It has long argued that its vast trove of foreign artefacts, such as the Elgin Marbles taken from the Parthenon in Athens, are best housed there.

As per The Guardian, Nigeria’s culture minister Lai Mohammed asked British Museum to follow in the footsteps of the Smithsonian, which sent back 29 Benin bronzes to Nigeria.

That statement came after the culture ministry last year sent the museum a formal request to return the pieces.

“It’s not if, it’s when,” Mohammed was quoted as saying by the newspaper.

He added: “They will eventually have to return these because the campaign is gaining strength by the day and, when they look at what other museums are doing, they will be compelled to return them.”

Nigeria is planning to build a museum in Benin City, in the south of the country, to bring together the works on their return.

“These are our properties,” Edo State Governor Godwin Obaseki previously said at the event to open the platform. “They were taken from us and they should be returned to us.”

With inputs from agencies

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