Another important step on the way to returning the Benin bronzes and strengthening cultural cooperation
Press release from 10/14/2021
Return of Benin bronzes from German museums embedded in broad-based cooperation in the field of museum exchange, new museum construction and archaeology - Memorandum of Understanding signed
In addition to the return of artefacts from the historical Kingdom of Benin from German museums to Nigeria, more intensive cooperation between the two countries in the cultural field is to take place in future. The restitution should not be the end, but the beginning of a new quality in cultural relations between Nigeria and Germany.
A Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) to this effect was signed by the Director General of the Nigerian National Commission for Museums and Monuments (NCMM), Prof. Abba Isa Tijani, and the Head of the Cultural Department of the Federal Foreign Office, Dr Andreas Görgen, during a visit by a German delegation to Abuja on 13 October 2021. The German delegation also included Prof. Dr Barbara Plankensteiner, Director of the Museum am Rothenbaum - Kulturen der Welt in Hamburg (MARKK) and co-spokesperson of the Benin Dialogue Group, and Prof. Dr Hermann Parzinger, President of the Prussian Cultural Heritage Foundation. Both have been commissioned by the federal and state governments to hold talks with the Federal Foreign Office on the return of Benin bronzes and to intensify cooperation on the basis of the Declaration on the Benin Bronzes of 29 April 2021.
Hermann Parzinger emphasised: "I fully support the agreement and am very pleased that, following the previous meetings, we have now been able to create a reliable basis for the return of Benin bronzes and for the further intensification of our cooperation at our third meeting within six months. I am certain that this cooperation will be a forward-looking model for dealing with looted colonial art."
The next steps in the restitution process will be a framework agreement to be concluded in 2021. Based on this, transfers of ownership should be possible in the second quarter of 2022. It has also been agreed that Benin bronzes will continue to be exhibited in German museums, which emphasises the special quality of the relationship. They will also work together on exhibition projects that will contribute to the circulation of cultural artefacts from Nigeria and Germany.