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Dispute Over Nigeria's Benin Bronzes May Jeopardise Return

The Nigerian government had demanded a return of the 1,130 Benin Bronzes looted from the country in the 19th century and displayed in German museums. Edo State Governor Godwin Obaseki, who was a part of the delegation to Berlin over the stolen artefacts, had proposed that they be returned to the Edo State government and displayed in a museum to be built by the government. But Oba of Benin Ewuare II said during a press briefing that the artefacts were stolen from the palace and should be returned to the Benin Kingdom.

The Benin Bronzes are a group of more than a thousand metal plaques and sculptures that decorated the royal palace of the Kingdom of Benin. Most of them were looted by British forces during the Benin Expedition of 1897. Most European former colonial powers have begun a process in recent years of considering the return of looted artifacts to the former colonies, especially in Africa.

InFocus

Son of Groucho/Flickr

90% of Africa’s cultural heritage currently lies outside the continent, including the Benin Bronzes in the British Museum.

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