Germany will return 440 ancient Benin Bronzes to Nigeria 125 years after they were ‘looted’ by British soldiers during raid

• There has been mounting pressure to return bronzes since BLM movement 
• The artefacts, among the most highly regarded works of African art, were plundered by the British Empire during the capture and sacking of Benin in 1897
• Germany’s culture minister announced return of the artefacts on Thursday
• Monika Gruetters said she hoped for ‘reconciliation with the descendants of those whose cultural treasures were stolen’

Germany will return 440 Benin Bronzes to Nigeria 125 years after they were looted by British soldiers in a colonial raid.

There have been growing calls to repatriate the sculptures, hundreds of which are distributed throughout European and American museums and universities, since the Black Lives Matter movement in the summer. 

The artefacts, among the most highly regarded works of African art, were plundered by the British Empire during the capture and sacking of Benin in 1897.

Germany’s culture minister Monika Gruetters yesterday announced that they would be sent back to Nigeria to bring ‘understanding and reconciliation with the descendants of those whose cultural treasures were stolen.’

‘We expect the first returns to take place in the year 2022,’ she added.

The Ethnological Museum in Berlin has 530 historical objects from the ancient kingdom, including 440 bronzes – considered the most important collection outside the British Museum.

The University of Aberdeen and Lambeth Palace, the London residence of the Archbishop of Canterbury, are among the British institutions which have so far announced their intention to send back their Benin Bronzes.

The Scottish University claimed that the bronzes had been seized in ‘reprehensible circumstances.’ 

That decision put pressure on the British Museum, which holds hundreds of the pieces, to follow suit.

The museum has not announced plans to send them back permanently but has formed a Benin Dialogue Group with other museums to discuss displaying them in Benin City on a loan basis. 

The artworks which date from the 13th century onward decorated the royal palace of the Kingdom of Benin and are among the most highly-regarded works of African art. 

The Ethnological Museum in Berlin has 530 historical objects from the ancient kingdom, including 440 bronzes – considered the most important collection outside the British Museum.

Some 180 of the bronzes are due to be exhibited this year in Berlin’s Humboldt Forum, a new museum complex that opened in December.

Nigeria’s ambassador to Germany, Yusuf Tuggar, had called for the bronzes to be returned. 

A Benin artwork which was looted during the sacking of Benin City in 1897 at the Berggruen Museum in Berlin

On Wednesday, Germany’s foreign minister Heiko Maas said that Berlin was ‘working with those involved in Nigeria and in Germany’ on the future of the objects, which he called ‘a question of justice’.

‘An honest approach to colonial history also includes the question of restitution of cultural assets,’ he said.

Nigeria plans to build a museum in Benin city to house looted artefacts after they are returned, a 3.4 million euro scheme in which the British museum will participate.

Late last year, France approved the restitution of 26 items from the Kingdom of Benin.

How British forces looted the treasures in a punitive expedition after Benin warriors slaughtered an earlier expeditionary force 

In December 1896, Britain’s Acting Consul-General in the region, James Phillips, embarked on an expedition to depose Oba Ovonramwen, the king of Benin.

In his letter to Lord Salisbury, the Foreign Secretary, Phillips wrote: ‘I have reason to hope that sufficient ivory would be found in the King’s house to pay the expenses incurred in removing the King from his stool.’  

Phillips set sail with a medical officer, two trading agents and around 250 African soldiers masquerading as porters – disguising guns in their baggage.

The Consul-General had sent word to the Oba he planned to visit to talk peace and trade.

Despite requests by the Oba to postpone the trip, Phillips set off.

On January 4, the British delegation was ambushed by an Edo force, apparently without knowledge of their Oba.

Philips was slaughtered along with the entire British force – save for two men, Captain Alan Maxwell Boisragon, Commandant of the Constabulary of the Niger Coast Protectorate and Ralph Locke, District Commissioner of Warri.

The incident became known as the ‘Benin Massacre.’

Days later Rear-Admiral Harry Rawson was appointed by the Admiralty to lead a force to invade the Kingdom of Benin and sack Benin City.

In February, a force of around 1,200 Royal Marines, sailors and troops from the Niger Coast Protectorate Forces arrived in Benin.

Warships approached the port city from all sides, overwhelming Benin’s basic defences of walls made of earth.

In ten days of bloody fighting the British Empire had defeated the Kingdom of Benin, ending 800 years of rule and annexing the territory into colonial Nigeria. 

The mission was heralded as a great success by the British Empire. 

Dan Hicks, of the University of Oxford, has claimed that the British participated in ‘war crimes’ during the attack.

The Oba’s palace was looted and hundreds of priceless artefacts were shipped back to England, hundreds were later sold to other colonial powers throughout Europe and America. 

They later became known as the Benin Bronzes, though many of the works were not necessarily made of metal, others were crafted from ivory and mahogany. 

One of them, a bronze cockerel, ended up being a permanent fixture in the dining hall at Jesus College, Cambridge.

Many people have campaigned for the cockerel to be returned over the years and in November last year, Cambridge University agreed to return it to Nigeria.

A number of other museums and universities have since also agreed to send items back in recent weeks. 

One campaigner was BBC historian David Olusoga who said The British Museum, which holds hundreds of the sculptures, should have a ‘Supermarket Sweep’ where countries have two minutes to take back their artefacts.

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