The museum initially presented six objects on Monday evening and officially named the Nigerian government the owner of the remaining art treasures. However, these will initially remain as loans in London, as regulated by a new contract. The return was the “moral and appropriate” response to a request from the West African state, it said.
Most of the Benin bronzes come from British looting during an 1897 punitive expedition against the kingdom of Benin in present-day Nigeria. Museum founder Frederick Horniman had purchased the ivory artifacts from an officer in the British Navy.
Abba Tijani, director general of Nigeria’s National Museums and Monuments Authority, said there are about 5,000 Benin bronzes scattered around the world. Most of the items are in the British Museum in London, which has so far refused to return them. Others are owned by German museums – still are. The governments of Germany and Nigeria have agreed on the transfer of ownership. The German Prussian Cultural Heritage Foundation has already transferred ownership of its objects to Nigeria.
(SDA)