Stolen bronzes return to Nigeria from the Netherlands

DW (English)

A ceremony in Nigeria has seen the historic return of 119 ancient bronze sculptures from the Netherlands. The artefacts were handed over to museum authorities almost 130 years after they were taken by British colonial forces.

Transcript

00:00they are finally back in nigeria these benin bronze sculptures more than 100 of them are

00:09getting a much-awaited homecoming welcome they are being returned by a dutch museum after they were

00:14looted from the benin kingdom by british forces in 1897. this official handover to nigeria's

00:21national museum commission represents the single largest return of benin artifacts so far it's a

00:27significant occasion for the people the royal palace and the people of benin and in fact

00:35all nigerians that things that were taken by force or stolen are being returned to where they belong

00:43these are works that are extremely talented forefathers artists and craftsmen artists they did

00:53prior to 1897 until now they are still standing the conversation around the repatriation of looted

01:02artifacts from africa during the colonial era have gained ground in recent years and for campaigners

01:09in nigeria it's been a long push to have the bronzes returned from western museums first and foremost we

01:16welcome our artifacts back home but secondly we want the world to know that these artifacts will indeed

01:22be taken care of with the utmost attention to detail and they will be displayed in all their glory we

01:28hope it does that's the whole point we hope that this does a fire restitution across the continent

01:34we hope that this starts a questioning of conscience amongst the museum goers and the museum operators

01:40abroad countries like germany returned over 20 sculptures like these in 2022 but the uk's british

01:47museum in london still holds a large collection of benin bronzes with legal complications preventing their

01:53return the return of these sculptures marks a significant milestone in the conversation about

02:00restitution of artifacts taken away from africa during the colonial area and many view this as a

02:06step towards righting some historical wrongs now with 119 of these bronzes returned from the netherlands

02:13these four will be housed right here at the national museum in lagos while the rest of them will be

02:18taken to a museum in beneath city that's the historical and royal land from where these artifacts was

02:23first taken over 100 years ago the nigerian museum authorities say this will not be a one-off

02:30they also say efforts are being made for the restitution of more ancient artifacts from various countries in

02:37europe

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