Bereichsnavigation
Return of the Berlin Benin bronzes
Press release from 08/25/2022
Ownership of all Berlin "Benin Bronzes" transferred to Nigeria - around a third of the works remain on loan in Berlin - further collaboration planned
Today Hermann Parzinger, President of the Prussian Cultural Heritage Foundation (SPK), and Abba Isa Tijani, Director General of the National Commission for Museums and Monuments (NCMM), signed the contract on the transfer of ownership of the Benin objects from the collection of the Ethnological Museum of the National Museums in Berlin - Prussian Cultural Heritage to Nigeria. It concerns 512 works that came to Berlin as a result of the so-called British Strafexpedition of 1897. This is the largest transfer of ownership of collection objects from a colonial context to date. The first objects will be returned to Nigeria this year. Around a third of the transferred objects will remain in Berlin on loan for an initial period of ten years and will be exhibited in the Humboldt Forum.
Minister of State for Culture Claudia Roth explains: "This restitution serves as a model for all museums in Germany that have collections from colonial contexts. I am very pleased that further restitution agreements are to be concluded in the coming months. All these endeavours form the foundation for further and more intensive cultural cooperation between Nigeria and Germany."
Hermann Parzinger, President of the SPK: "I am delighted that just a few weeks after the first symbolic handover of two objects on the occasion of the signing of the political declaration on 1 July 2022 at the Federal Foreign Office, we have now also been able to transfer ownership of our entire Benin holdings to Nigeria. The fact that we are keeping a third of the objects as long-term loans for the time being and can show them in changing presentations in the Humboldt Forum in the halls on Benin's past and present art and culture fills us with great gratitude and emphasises the great trust that has developed in the joint discussions of recent years. We have thus laid a solid foundation for long-term and diverse co-operation in the future. I would like to thank everyone involved in Germany and Nigeria for their constructive cooperation."
Abba Tijani, Director General of NCMM Nigeria, said: "This represents the future in terms of artefact display; a future of cooperation between museums, a future in which the legitimate demands of other nations and traditional institutions are given respect and dignity. Other museums outside Germany are hereby invited to emulate the Prussian Cultural Heritage Foundation. It is noteworthy and noteworthy that the other German museums are already preparing the remaining antiquities for repatriation to Nigeria in accordance with the agreement signed on 1 July 2022".
For years, national and international efforts have been made to find a solution for dealing with the "Benin Bronzes", which ended up in various collections around the world after the conquest of the Kingdom of Benin by British troops in 1897. After the conquest, Oba Ovonramwen, the last independent king, was sent into exile in the city of Calabar and the royal palace was plundered. Thousands of objects were shipped to London as spoils of war and sold there. Hundreds more of the plundered objects remained in colonial Nigeria for a while, but then found their way into European and North American museums via networks of European and African businessmen and traders. The Berlin museum also profited from the colonial system and its "acquisitions" made possible by violence. Since 2010, it has been a member of the Benin Dialogue Group, in which European museums discuss the future of Benin objects in their collections together with Nigerian partners. The negotiations between Germany and Nigeria, which began at government level in 2021, were successfully concluded in July this year with the signing of a Joint Declaration, which provides the framework for the return of artefacts from all German museums.
The loans include all varieties of art from Benin. Lars-Christian Koch, Director of the Ethnological Museum and the Museum of Asian Art, says: "I am grateful that we are able to show the outstanding art from Benin in all its facets at the Humboldt Forum. Together with our Nigerian partners, we have completely revised the originally planned presentation. We are telling the story of the Kingdom of Benin and its conquest and, in addition to the historical objects, we are also showing works by contemporary artists, such as films, textiles and bronze casts, which are still produced in the traditional way today."
Two rooms in the Humboldt Forum are dedicated to art from the Kingdom of Benin and its history. The first room will focus on the memorial head of a queen mother or iyoba, a showpiece of the art of courtly Benin. In this room, the significance and history of the objects and the collection and their return will be presented. A video installation shows 10 people who were involved in the process. Around 30 historical objects were selected for the second room, which show the entire spectrum of Benin's courtly art. These are juxtaposed with contemporary art from Nigeria that still utilises traditional techniques today. A larger discussion area offers space for educational activities, workshops and dialogue. The presentation in the Humboldt Forum has been closely coordinated with the Nigerian partners. Over the next ten years, it will be repeatedly redesigned together in order to familiarise the public with the diversity and enormous quality of historical and contemporary art from Nigeria. The education programme will also be co-designed by the Nigerian side, among others by NCMM mediators who are already in Berlin as part of a residency.
