Nigeria: Agreement affects foreign museums

Created: 06/29/2022Updated: 06/29/2022 15:01

Sculptures from Nigeria are on display in the Linden Museum in Stuttgart.

© Christoph Schmidt/dpa/archive image

After the agreement between Germany and Nigeria on the so-called Benin bronzes, further returns of art objects from other countries that are considered colonial loot are expected.

"The German decision has strongly influenced the position of other museums, universities and societies," said the director general of Nigeria's National Museums and Monuments Authority, Abba Tijani, on Wednesday in Stuttgart.

Stuttgart - There are currently talks in Great Britain and the USA, some of which are well advanced.

He is counting on further returns and named the British Museum in London and the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York, among others.

Ines de Castro, director of the Linden Museum in Stuttgart, was also convinced.

"This has also brought dynamics to the process for other countries that Germany is acting in this way," she said after talks with Tijani.

Around 1,100 of the artistic objects and bronzes from the palace of what was then the Kingdom of Benin, which today belongs to Nigeria, can be found in around 20 German museums, including 78 in the Linden Museum alone.

Most of the so-called Benin bronzes come from the British looting of 1897. It was announced on Tuesday that Germany and Nigeria had reached an agreement on how to deal with the bronzes.

The signing of a declaration of intent is planned for Friday at the Foreign Office, which will clear the way for the transfer of ownership.

dpa