Germany, the first country to return bronzes from Benin to Nigeria?

Audio 04:27

This bronze from Benin currently in Aberdeen will be returned to Nigeria.

© KALYAN VEERA / AFP

Text by: Pascal Thibaut Follow

9 mins

For this first episode of a series on the restitution of African works of art, direction Germany.

After years of blockage, the country changed its position at the end of April regarding the restitution of African works of art and could therefore become the first to return Benin bronzes to Nigeria.

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With our correspondent in Berlin,

Germany's

colonial past

, which ended in 1918, has long been forgotten.

The Third Reich and the Holocaust crushed the work of memory.

But times are changing.

Berlin has acknowledged the genocide committed at the beginning of the last century against the Herero and Nama in Namibia.

And Germany

could be the first country to return to Nigeria bronzes from Benin

, world-famous works of art.

These bronzes are among the most famous works of African art.

These brass busts and sculptures were made between the 16th and 18th centuries and decorated the royal palace of the Kingdom of Benin in what is now southwestern Nigeria.

During Britain's invasion of the region at the end of the 19th century, the king was forced into exile, his palace burned down and the

works confiscated.

3,000 to 5,000 objects were auctioned off in London.

A thousand of them were bought by Germany.

Almost half are now in Berlin and the rest are spread over around 20 German cities.

If the acquisition of these works was legal, the legitimacy of these collections is questionable.

Nigeria has tried, in vain, since its independence to obtain their restitution.

But German museums have long turned a deaf ear.

"

 Historical and moral responsibilities 

"

What then explains this German turnaround? First, the country's colonial past has emerged from oblivion. An exhibition at the German History Museum contributed to this. Namibia's demands and the laborious negotiations over the years on the recognition of the genocide against the Herero and the Namas have given visibility to this painful subject. The debates around the Humboldt Forum in Berlin, which has just opened and which is due to host non-European collections by next year, played a role. And Emmanuel Macron's desire to return cultural goods found in French museums to African countries has aroused an echo in Germany and elsewhere.

At the end of April, Berlin announced the restitution from next year of bronzes from Benin. "

We are ready to assume our historical and moral responsibilities and to carry out a work of memory on the colonial past of Germany

", assured the Minister of Culture, Monika Grütters. At the end of June, the president of the Prussian Cultural Heritage Foundation Hermann Parzinger was appointed to lead the negotiations with the Nigerian authorities.

“ 

It's not a symbolic gesture with the restitution of two or three works, but it is a significant number.

In the future, we hope to be able to continue exhibiting works from Benin in Germany, for example, with long-term loans.

We want to establish cooperation for the future.

This is the potential that lies in the current debates and restitutions, 

”he explains.

Exhibitions soon to open in Nigeria

As a result of this decision, negotiations will be conducted in the coming months to find out which objects will be transferred to Nigeria. The “Edo Museum of West African Art” in Benin City, Nigeria is only due to open in 2024, but a pavilion must allow works to be exhibited beforehand. These two buildings will be built on the site of the former royal palace destroyed by the British.

The specialist in the file, Bénédicte Savoy, author with Felwine Sarr of a report to Emmanuel Macron on the restitution of African cultural heritage has for years been critical of the blockages of German museums but welcomes the current turning point. “To

compare the announcement of the restitution of the bronzes from Benin to the fall of the Berlin Wall, it is in a way to say that we are facing a historical event, a change in the world cultural order. This speed comes after 40 years of waiting and frustrations on the Nigerian side. They are undoubtedly beautiful pieces of world art, but they are also and perhaps above all, pieces to which bloody episodes of colonial history are often linked

,

”she

says.

Germany could therefore be the first country to return bronzes from Benin to Nigeria.

For the Humboldt Forum in Berlin, whose rooms devoted to non-European art are only due to open next year, we will have to improvise according to the works that will remain in Berlin.

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