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· Germany is returning the Benin Bronzes (artifacts) that were mostly looted from West Africa by the British, who were the then colonizer of that country
· They (British) subsequently sold such looted artifacts and sculptures across the world, including Germany to display in museums
· The first returns from Germany would reach Benin by next year, she added.
Germany is returning the Benin Bronzes (artifacts) that were mostly looted from West Africa by the British, who were the then colonizer of that country. They (British) subsequently sold such looted artifacts and sculptures across the world, including Germany to display in museums.
Germany’s minister for culture, Monika Gruetters, said the Benin Bronzes were a key test for the way the country deals with its colonial past, adding that it was a gesture to set right the wrongs done in the past though it was not perpetrated byher country. She said that such gestures would lead to “understanding and reconciliation” with the descendants of those whose cultural treasures were stolen in colonial times. The first returns from Germany would reach Benin by next year, she added.
A British colonial expedition looted vast numbers of treasures from the royal palace of the Kingdom of Benin in 1897. Those artifacts including sculptures were taken to British museum. Of that, several pieces were sold to the Ethnological Museum in Berlin, which has one of the world’s largest collections of historical objects from the Kingdom of Benin. It is estimated that the Berlin museum has about 530 items, including 440 bronzes.
The British Museum so far has not announced its intent to return the artifacts to Benin, though the country fully acknowledged the devastation and plunder of the Benin City during the British military expedition in 1897. Experts say that the decision by Germany to return the artifacts would likely affect the wider debate about how institutions in former colonial countries should handle such artifacts and feel that the pressure on British museums would now build to follow the example set by Germany.
