GERMANY SET TO RETURN BENIN BRONZE TO NIGERIA
On Friday, July 1 2022 will go down in
the history books of Nigeria as a day to remember. On that date, the Federal government of
Nigeria signed an agreement with the government of Germany to kick start the repatriation
of the hundreds of Benin bronzes back to Nigeria.
Annalena Baerbock, the German Foreign Minister
in the company of Claudia Roth the culture minister signed the deal with the
Nigerian counterparts in Berlin after Germany first announced that it would
start returning the bronzes last year.
The Nigerian Minister of Information and Culture
while speaking at the signing ceremony thanked the German government for having
“taken the lead in correcting the wrongs of the past”, hailing “the dawn of a
new era of cooperation”.
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The
head of a king and a plaque depicting three warriors are the first two artworks
that were on July 1 2022 handed over to representatives from Nigeria.
“Today we have reason to celebrate because we have reached a
historic agreement, the Benin bronzes are returning home. These
pieces are not only magnificent artifacts, they are some of Africa’s
greatest treasures. But they are also telling a story of colonial violence” she
said
Reports indicate that there are thousands
of Benin bronzes, metal plaques, and sculptures that once decorated the royal
palace of the ancient Benin Kingdom are now scattered around several European
museums after being looted by the British at the end of the 19th century.
Germany for example has around 1,100 16th-
to 18th-century artifacts, split between some 20 museums. The biggest
collection is held by the Ethnological Museum in Berlin, which has 440
pieces considered the most important collection outside London’s British
Museum.
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