More than 200 artefacts looted from Nigeria by the British military in the 19th century are set to be returned.
The Cambridge University Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology (MAA) confirmed this in a statement issued last Sunday.
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The institution has already transferred ownership of the artefacts to Nigeria and will return them to their home country before the end of 2026.
The statement said the university had “transferred legal ownership of 116 Benin artefacts in the Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology (MAA) collections to Nigeria’s National Commission for Museums and Monuments (NCMM).”
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This comes three years after NCMM called for the return of 116 objects looted by armed forces during the 1897 sack of Benin City.
The commission had made a formal request for the “Benin Bronze” in 2022. The MAA said the UK Charity Commission eventually approved.
“The University’s Council supported the claim and authorisation from the UK Charity Commission was subsequently granted.
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“Physical transfer of the majority of the artefacts will be arranged in due course,” the statement read.
The institution also noted that, although 116 items are to be returned, 17 will remain temporarily at the museum on a three-year loan.
The MAA will continue to be accessible for public viewing and academic study.
The BBC reports that among the bronzes to be returned are wooden and ivory sculptures, as well as commemorative heads of King Oba and Queen Mother Lyoba Idia.
According to the MAA’s director, Nicholas Thomas, the return of the artefact is widely supported by the university community.
He said, “It has been immensely rewarding to engage in dialogue with colleagues from the National Commission of Museums and Monuments, members of the Royal Court, and Nigerian scholars, students, and artists over the last 10 years.
“Over the period, support has mounted, nationally and internationally, for the repatriation of artefacts that were appropriated in the context of colonial violence.”
Olugbile Holloway, the director general of the NCMM, also disclosed that the repatriated objects will be housed in museums in Lagos and Benin City.
“We expect this to happen before the year ends,” he said.
The return of the Benin Bronzes is part of a broader international movement to repatriate African artefacts looted by Western powers during colonial rule. There has been pressure on Western institutions and governments to address their colonial-era acquisitions.
Earlier in the year, French senators adopted a bill intended to simplify the return of artworks and cultural objects looted during France’s colonial era to their countries of origin.
Previous returns
Cambridge’s return of artefacts follows similar ones from countries such as Germany, the United States, the Netherlands, and the United Kingdom.
READ ALSO: Returned Artefacts: Okpebholo vows to protect Benin culture, tradition
The return of the Benin Bronzes is part of a broader international movement to repatriate African artefacts looted by Western powers during colonial rule.
PREMIUM TIMES also reported the return of 119 Benin Bronzes to Nigeria last year.
In 2022, Germany returned 1,030 Benin Bronzes to Nigeria. The same year, three US museums – the Smithsonian Institution’s National Museum of African Art (NMAfA) and the Rhode Island School of Design (RISD) Museum – returned 31 Benin bronzes.
The Horniman Museum, a London Museum that houses a collection of 72 treasured items, handed over ownership of the artefacts to the Nigerian government. But the British Museum, which holds the most extensive collection of Benin Bronzes, has refused to return them, citing legal restrictions.
Meanwhile, the arrival of the Benin artefacts, looted by the British during their invasion of the ancient Benin kingdom, sparked controversy over where the treasure should be housed. In 2021, it elicited a disagreement between the former Edo State Governor, Godwin Obaseki, and Oba Ewuare II of Benin.
The king had asked that the artefacts be kept in the Benin Royal Museum, built within the palace, while the state government demanded that the items be preserved in the proposed Edo Museum of West African Arts.
The federal government added a new twist to the controversy when it proposed to take possession of the artworks.
However, in April 2023, the federal government officially recognised the Oba of Benin as the owner and custodian of the artefacts.
According to the Oba of Benin, plans are already underway for the construction of the Benin Royal Museum.
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