The return of the art treasures known as the Benin Bronzes from German museums to Africa has begun.

A declaration of intent on further action was signed on Friday in Berlin by Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock and Minister of State for Culture Claudia Roth (both Green) and their counterparts from Nigeria, Zubairo Dada and Lai Mohammed.

The first two art treasures from the collection of the Berlin Ethnological Museum were symbolically handed over on Friday.

According to the Prussian Cultural Heritage Foundation, the two artefacts are a brass memorial head of a king and a brass relief plate depicting a king with four companions.

According to the Federal Foreign Office, the bronzes reached Berlin in the luggage of the consul and businessman Eduard Schmidt at the end of the 19th century, where they were sold in 1898 to what was then the Royal Museum of Ethnology.

New era of cultural cooperation

Baerbock described the contract as a "historic agreement" with more to come.

With the return of the Benin bronzes, Germany is facing up to its colonial past, she said.

The German colonial history must be worked through together with the African partners and work together on a common future.

Minister of State for Culture Roth said that Germany was beginning to shed its blindness to its own colonial past.

This could be a path to a future where justice heals the wounds of the past.

The government representatives of Nigeria also appreciated the agreement.

The hopes of many years are now bearing fruit, said Minister of State for Foreign Affairs Zubairo Dada.

The agreement marks the beginning of a new era of cultural cooperation.

The day of the signing is one of the most important days for African culture.

According to the foundation, an agreement on the return of further Benin bronzes from the Berlin Ethnological Museum is to follow in the course of the year.

Some of the more than 500 objects in the collection should remain on loan in Germany in the long term, it said.

According to government circles, on the basis of the political declaration of intent, those museums that have Benin bronzes in their possession should now conduct further negotiations about the specific returns.

By signing the declaration of intent, both states had prepared a legal basis on which the transfer of ownership of the individual bronzes could be completed, according to the Foreign Office.

In addition, the expansion of Nigerian-German museum cooperation had been agreed.

The 500-year-old sculptures from the Royal Palace of Benin were stolen during the so-called British Punitive Expedition of 1897 and sold to foreign museums.

German museums acquired around 1,100 bronzes, several hundred of which are said to be in Berlin alone.

Since March 2021, the future of the Benin bronzes had been negotiated under the leadership of the Federal Commissioner for Culture and the Media.