A Benin Bronze in Berlin’s Ethnological Museum. Photo: Bin im Garten/Wikipedia Commons. June 21, 2021 at 5:04pm
Following up on its promise earlier this year to return its trove of Benin bronzes to Nigeria, and to do so transparently, Germany has lifted the veil on a comprehensive digital database offering images and provenances of the looted artworks in its possession,
Artnews reports. The website, German Contact Points for Collections from Colonial Contexts, offers images and provenances for the objects and will continue to be updated as the repatriation process moves ahead.
The step is the latest taken by Germany, which has led its counterparts in the effort to return its share of the more than 90,000 brass, bronze, and ivory objects stolen by British soldiers in 1897 from the Republic of Benin (now Nigeria) and scattered across the Continent and throughout the world. Some five hundred of the purloined items are estimated to be held in the collec
The German Lost Art Foundation is offering grants of up to €25,000 ($30,000) apiece to the country’s museums to be used for research into the provenance of the Benin bronzes currently in their possession, The Art Newspaper reports. Citing the brief time remaining before the objects, looted over a century ago by British soldiers from what was then called the Republic of Benin, are returned to Nigeria next year, as was recently promised by the German government, the foundation is characterizing the money as emergency funding. The grants are aimed at smaller institutions and are intended for research