The items ransacked by British soldiers in 1897 should never have ended up in the Netherlands, the Dutch government has said
The Netherlands has returned 119 artifacts to Nigeria, including human and animal figures, plaques, royal regalia and a historic bell. They were looted from the West African country more than a century ago.
The items, known as the Benin Bronzes, were handed over during an official ceremony at the National Museum in Lagos, Nigeria’s largest city, on Saturday.
The artifacts were ransacked in the late 19th century when British forces stormed the Benin Kingdom, in what is now southern Nigeria, plundered its royal palaces, and exiled King Ovonramwen Nogbaisi. The ruler had sought to defend his kingdom’s independence and control over trade in palm oil, rubber, and ivory amid mounting British pressure.
“The return is unconditional, recognizing that the objects were looted during the British attack on Benin City in 1897, and should have never ended up in the Netherlands,” the Dutch government said in a press release.
“The Dutch restitution is the largest physical return of Benin artifacts to Nigeria to date,” it stated.
Nigeria intensified its demands for the return of the Benin Bronzes in 2022, when the National Commission for Museums and Monuments (NCMM) formally called on institutions around the world to hand back looted artifacts.
In August that year, the Horniman Museum and Gardens in London announced the repatriation of 72 Benin Bronzes from its collection to Africa’s most populous country. Months later, the Rhode Island School of Design Museum followed, returning 31 items – including a piece known as the “Head of a King” – to Nigeria’s National Collections.
Speaking at the Netherlands government’s handover event on Saturday, NCMM Director-General Olugbile Holloway described the artifacts as “embodiments of the spirit and identity of the people from whom they were taken.”
“All we ask of the world is to treat us with fairness, dignity and respect,” he said, according to Al Jazeera news.
Several other African countries have stepped up pressure on Western museums to return artifacts looted during the colonial era. In January 2024, the British Museum and the Victoria and Albert Museum announced the return of more than 30 royal treasures to Ghana, following a loan agreement with the Manhyia Palace Museum. The items had been stolen from a king of the Ashanti Kingdom in the 19th century.
In July 2023, Oxford University offered 196 cows to Maasai families in Kenya and Tanzania as compensation for artifacts looted and exported to the UK over a century ago.
