Nigeria’s decades-long quest to reclaim its stolen cultural treasures gained fresh momentum on Monday as 18 priceless Benin Kingdom artefacts returned from Switzerland, underscoring a growing international commitment to right historical wrongs and restore Africa’s heritage.
The religious objects are said to be among the famous ‘Benin bronzes’, which were looted from Benin at the end of the 19th century.
The government of Switzerland also returned to Nigeria five artefacts seized in the country.
At a ceremony at the National Museum in Lagos, the National Commission for Museums and Monuments (NCMM), on behalf of the Federal Government, formally received the artefacts.
During the restitution ceremony, Federal Councillor Elisabeth Baume-Schneider and the Minister of Art, Culture, Tourism and the Creative Economy, Hannatu Musa Musawa, also signed an agreement on the transfer of cultural items, reiterating their commitment to combating the illicit trade in cultural property and protecting cultural heritage.
Fourteen of the artefacts came from the Ethnographic Museum at the University of Zurich, two from Museum Rietberg Zurich and two from the Musée d’Ethnographie de Genève (MEG).
The artefacts are among the famous ‘Benin bronzes’, cast in metal or carved from ivory at the royal court of Benin.
The restitution follows several years of collaborative provenance research carried out under the Benin Initiative Switzerland, which showed that t
The objects were said to have been looted during the British invasion of 1897.
The ceremony also included the restitution of a bronze bracelet and four archaeological monoliths from Nigeria’s Niger Delta region seized in Switzerland as part of criminal proceedings and subsequently transferred to the state.
During the restitution ceremony, Baume-Schneider and Musawa also signed an international agreement on the import, export and repatriation of cultural property, strengthening cooperation between Switzerland and Nigeria in the field of cultural heritage protection.
The agreement creates a legal framework for cooperation aimed at preventing the illicit trafficking of cultural property and facilitating their return, among other aims.
The restitution of the artefacts and the agreement on future cooperation form part of a broader effort to address historical injustice, while creating the basis for long-term cultural partnership.
The returned artefacts are part of the historical memory, spiritual life, artistic heritage and identity of the communities from which they originate. Their restitution enables Nigerian institutions, researchers, artists, students and the wider public to study, preserve and interpret this heritage in Nigeria and on Nigeria’s own terms.
Some of the returned artefacts are expected to be on display at the National Museum in Lagos, while the vast majority will be returned to their original home in Edo State.
The ceremony was also attended by the Director General of the NCMM, Olugbile Holloway; representatives of the Swiss Federal Office of Culture and the directors of the three Swiss museums returning the artefacts: Alice Hertzog, Director of the Ethnographic Museum at the University of Zurich; Annette Bhagwati, Director of Museum Rietberg Zurich; and Carine Durand, Director of the MEG.
