Baerbock and Roth return Benin bronzes in Nigeria

Created: 2022-12-20 04:17

Benin bronzes are being prepared in the Ethnological Museum in Dahlem for return to Nigeria.

© Wolfgang Kumm/dpa

With an internationally recognized step, Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock and Minister of State for Culture Claudia Roth are returning 20 of the precious Benin bronzes this Tuesday (1 p.m.) in the Nigerian capital Abuja.

The art treasures previously belonged to museums in Berlin, Hamburg, Cologne, Dresden/Leipzig and Stuttgart.

Abuja - The Greens politicians traveled to the crisis-ridden West African country on Sunday to personally hand over the copies to the Nigerian side.

Baerbock and Roth are accompanied by the heads of several museums.

More than 1,100 of the works from the palace of the former Kingdom of Benin, which today belongs to Nigeria, have so far been found in around 20 German museums.

The objects, which are made of ivory and other materials in addition to bronze, come largely from British looting in 1897.

The five museums now involved and their sponsors had already transferred ownership of all the Benin bronzes before they were returned.

Loan agreements were also concluded so that some of the art treasures can continue to be shown in Germany.

dpa