Germany returns over 20 looted Benin Bronzes to Nigeria

December 21, 2022 Elwin Mandowa

Germany has returned over 20 Benin Bronzes stolen from Nigeria to the West African nation.

German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock confirmed this on Tuesday as Germany joins other European countries to return stolen cultural artefacts to where they belong.

British soldiers seized thousands of metal castings and sculptures during a raid on the then-separate Kingdom of Benin in 1897.

The Bronze’s were auctioned off and then spread among institutions from New Zealand to Germany and the United States, with the biggest collection in London.

Last year, Germany said it would hand over these artefacts taken away from Africa by Europeans during the colonial period. It was keeping them in its museums.

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Germany had signed a declaration with Nigeria earlier this year to release all 1,130 Benin Bronzes in German public museums.

Nigerian foreign minister Geoffrey Onyeama and information minister Lai Mohammed, Germany’s minister for culture and media Claudia Roth as well as directors of museums in Germany were present at the handover event.

“Today we are taking a step that was long overdue: We are returning 20 Benin bronzes from German museums to where they belong, to their homeland,” Baerbock told reporters in Abuja.

Nigeria’s information minister called on the British Museum to release the more than 900 Benin Bronzes it has.