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Berlin (dpa) - The Berlin Humboldt Forum wants to revise its plans for the previously planned presentation of the controversial Benin bronzes.
The presentation is currently being voted on, it said on Tuesday at the Humboldt Forum.
It is certain that the injustice will be discussed.
So far, no returns have been decided, emphasized a spokesman.
The Board of Trustees of the Prussian Cultural Heritage Foundation would have to decide on this.
The Foundation's Ethnological Museum has around 530 historical objects from the Kingdom of Benin, including around 440 bronzes, which are largely considered objects from contexts of injustice in colonial times.
The planned presentation of the bronzes in the Humboldt Forum is at the center of the discussion about the consequences of colonialism and possible restitutions.
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"Coming to terms with colonialism is a clear task," Hartmut Dorgerloh, General Director of the Humboldt Forum, recently emphasized in an interview with the dpa.
He also shared the assessment that there must be returns, it was now also said.
The President of the Foundation, Hermann Parzinger, recently referred to international contacts.
“We are discussing this as part of the Benin Dialogue Group together with other museums that have Benin bronzes in their collections, and with our partners in Nigeria and Benin City itself,” he told the dpa.
A museum is to be built in Benin City.
“We support this, for example through loans.
But there must also be returns, I'm quite sure of that.
This has to happen on the basis of a dialogue in which we jointly consider which things should return and which should stay here, ”says Parzinger.
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State Minister for Culture Monika Grütters relies on an open process.
"If at the end of such a debate about the Benin bronzes, for example, there are returns, empty spaces could remain in the exhibition rooms in the Humboldt Forum that show visitors this previously neglected part of our history," the CDU politician recently told the dpa said.
The center for culture, art and science, which costs around 680 million euros, is used by the state of Berlin and the Humboldt University in addition to the foundation.
Exhibits from Asia, Africa, America and Oceania as well as objects on the history of Berlin are shown.
© dpa-infocom, dpa: 210323-99-934843 / 2
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