Germany to return looted artefacts to Nigeria

BBC

Berlin: Germany has agreed to return to Nigeria priceless artefacts that were stolen during the colonisation of Africa.

British troops looted thousands of artworks known as the Benin Bronzes from the Kingdom of Benin, in present-day Nigeria, in 1897.

Following auctions, some of the bronzes ended up in museums and private collections across Europe.

They hold deep cultural significance, and there is growing international pressure to give them back.

Berlin’s Ethnologisches Museum holds more than 500 artefacts from the Kingdom of Benin, most of them bronzes.

“We want to contribute to understanding and reconciliation with the descendants of those whose cultural treasures were stolen during colonisation,” German Culture Minister Monika Gruetters said on Thursday, adding that the first returns were expected to take place in 2022.

Scotland’s University of Aberdeen said last month it would repatriate a Benin bronze whose acquisition in 1957 at an auction it called “extremely immoral”.

Last year, France approved the restitution of its collection of pillaged Benin Bronzes.

Hundreds of pieces are still held in the British Museum and several museums in the United States.

There are plans to house the returned artefacts in the forthcoming Edo Museum of West African Art (EMOWAA). The project is a joint effort between the Nigeria-based Legacy Restoration Trust, the British Museum and architecture firm Adjaye Associates.

The Benin Bronzes – thousands of brass, bronze and ivory sculptures and carvings – have become highly charged symbols of colonialism and .

More than 900 of these artefacts are housed in the British Museum, which has come under increasing pressure to return them in the wake of last year’s Black Lives Matter protests.

The British Museum has told the BBC that it is “committed to facilitating a permanent display of Benin material” in Edo, but has not specified how many items would be returned, adding “the selection of objects will be determined through discussion with our Nigerian colleagues”.

Historians say Benin City, formerly known as Edo, boasted earthen walls longer than the Great Wall of China.

It was also said to be one of the first cities with a form of street lighting.

British troops razed the whole city to the ground in 1897 to avenge the killing of an earlier force.

د ب أ

برلين: من المُنتظر أن تُعيد المتاحف الألمانية مجموعة القطع الفنية المعروفة باسم «بنين برونز» -كنوز بنين- التي كانت تعرّضت للسرقة إبان فترة الاحتلال في القارة السمراء، إلى نيجيريا العام المُقبل.

واتفق خبراء متاحف ومُسؤولون سياسيون على هذه الخطوة خلال جلسة افتراضية عقدوها في برلين، وذلك بحسب ما علمته وكالة الأنباء الألمانية (د.ب.أ) من مصادر مشاركة في الجلسة.

تجدر الإشارة إلى أن مجموعة «بنين برونز» موجودة في العديد من المتاحف الألمانية، ومنها منتدى هومبولت في برلين، وهو المُتحف الإثني الذي يحتوي على نحو 530 قطعة تاريخية من مملكة بنين، بينها 440 قطعة برونزية.

وتم الاستيلاء على الجزء الأكبر من هذه القطع خلال أعمال النهب التي مارسها الاستعمار البريطاني في عام 1897. ومن المُتوقع أن يتم إعداد جدول زمني لعملية الإعادة في موعد أقصاه الصيف المقبل. وجاءت الجلسة استجابة لدعوة من وزيرة الثقافة، مونيكا جروترس، حيث جرى التشاور حول التعامل اللاحق مع ما تحوزه المتاحف الألمانية من مجموعة «بنين برونز» وهي قطع فنية قيّمة من القصر الملكي في مملكة بنين.