Germany returns 20 Benin bronzes to Nigeria, noting ‘dark past’
Al JazeeraDec 21, 2022
Germany has returned 22 Benin Bronzes from its museums to Nigeria, as part of a larger effort of Western nations to repatriate stolen artifacts from Africa. The Benin Bronzes are plaques and sculptures that were looted in 1897 from the ancient Kingdom of Benin — which is now southern Nigeria and not the modern nation-state of Benin — by British military personnel.
Earlier this year, Germany signed an agreement with Nigeria to release all 1,130 Benin Bronzes in German public museums.
The return of these artifacts is long overdue. It is significant that Germany is making efforts to deal with its colonial past, and it is time that other Western nations follow suit. Artifacts stolen during colonial times should be repatriated to their countries of origin.
Western museums serve a nuanced purpose and should not just automatically bow to calls to return artworks acquired during a colonial past. Current discourses on decolonizing museums speak in absolutes of good and bad instead of looking at the subtle histories of empires beyond a focus on colonial violence. To decolonize museums is to decontextualize museums, and remove the multicultural histories of western nations.