World's Largest Cultural Organisation to Return Its Collection of Benin Bronzes

The Smithsonian will return all of its stolen Benin Bronze artefacts after striking a major agreement with Nigeria.

The American cultural instituion will voluntarily give up its legal right to the 39 artefacts before sending them back to Nigeria where they will be displayed at the National Museum of Benin City. As part of the agreement, the two museums have agreed to a series of long-term loans and cross-cultural collaborations that will see the Smithsonian continue to display some of the Bronzes. 

The artefacts are part of a haul of thousands of priceless treasures that were looted from the Kingdom of Benin, now part of modern-day Nigeria, in 1897 by the British Army. The entire global inventory, collectively known as Benin Bronzes, consists of brass plaques, ivory tusks, wooden ornaments, figurative tableaus, sculptures and brass commemorative heads. 

In the decades since, American institutions like the Smithsonian have gained their Bronzes through purchases and donations. 

The Smithsonian’s decision to repatriate its entire collection of 39 Bronzes highlights the fact that most of the treasures are still being hoarded by the West.  

“This exhibition will be from the perspective of Nigeria and how we want them to be displayed,” Abba Isa Tijani, the director-general of Nigeria’s National Commission for Museums and Monuments, told The Washington Post. “What is more important than being in control of how your heritage, your artefacts, are displayed?”

Pressure has mounted on major museums across the world to return their trove of looted artefacts as countries have attempted to reckon with their racial and colonial legacies. The British Museum alone holds 900 Benin Bronzes, the vast majority of which are permanently kept in storage in the bowels of the museum. 

A 2019 report commissioned by the French government found that 90 percent of Africa’s material cultural legacy is being kept outside of the continent, almost entirely against the will of the countries they belong to. 

So far, Western museums have largely opted to only return their stolen artefacts on loan, ensuring that the most precious assets are still owned by the colonial powers that took them. Meanwhile, permanent restitutions have predominantly seen a tiny fraction of the total number of housed artefacts returned to Nigeria. In November, France returned just 26 Bronzes to Benin from its collection of nearly 90,000 looted colonial treasures.