Germany pledges to return Benin bronzes to Nigeria starting

A Benin relief plaque (16th-17th centuries) showing the King with two dignitaries, currently in the collection of the Museum am Rothenbaum (MARKK) in Hamburg
Photo: © Paul Schimweg/MARKK
The German government and directors of the country’s leading museums have agreed to develop a timetable for the permanent return to Nigeria of Benin artefacts looted in a British military raid in 1897, with the goal of handing over the first of the stolen artefacts in 2022.
The federal culture minister Monika Grütters met yesterday with the culture ministers of four German states and the heads of ethnological museums in Berlin, Stuttgart, Cologne, Leipzig and Hamburg, all of which have substantial collections of Benin bronzes. The aim is to ensure a coordinated national approach to restitution and reach a joint settlement with Nigeria. In total, around 25 German museums possess looted items from Benin.

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