Benin Bronzes

Technologyfeature

Can digital technologies help to resolve debates on restitution?

Many believe new applications—from AI and NFTs to 3D scanning—are game changing in returning objects to source communities. Lawyers say they can make the process harder

Nigeria doubles down on restitution demands following British Museum thefts

Government official says new claim will be made for Benin Bronzes housed in London

Barrister Hannatu Musawa is appointed Nigeria's culture minister

The lawyer and activist may play a key role in negotiating the return of Benin bronzes

Restitutionanalysis

King Charles’s ethical dilemma over looted objects in the Royal Collection

The monarch will likely face calls for the return of priceless objects that were seized by British military forces during 19th-century operations

Benin bronzes: whose restitution is this, anyway?

Phillip Ihenacho, the director of the Edo Museum of West African Art in Nigeria, calls for a new focus, based on realities on the ground rather than romantic notions of the West

'Restitution with conditions is neo-colonialism': German ruling parties defend return of Benin bronzes in parliament

The far-right Alternative for Germany party called for the debate after the oba of Benin was named owner of the returning artefacts, causing confusion

'The time of begging for stolen loot is over': Cambridge University master gives UN speech saying tone has shifted in restitution debate

Sonita Alleyne was appointed Master of Jesus College in 2019—the year the institution announced the UK's first repatriation of Benin Bronzes to Nigeria

Nigeria transfers ownership of Benin Bronzes to royal ruler—confusing European museums' plans to return artefacts

The move may complicate plans to house the works in future museums such as the Edo Museum of West African Art

Nigeria’s hotly-anticipated Edo Museum of West African Art: newly appointed curator Aindrea Emelife discusses her plans

Scholar discusses restitution issue, saying that "no culture has an absolute view on looking at the world"

Germans falter on Benin bronzes’ return to Nigeria

Doubts surface in media over Nigeria’s museum infrastructure

Even restituted artefacts—like Benin bronzes—need export licences from UK, says arts minister

Formal requirement for government licences may well prove to be yet another obstacle to a loan agreement for the Parthenon Marbles

Artefacts in Swiss museums were looted from the Kingdom of Benin, new report says

Many of the works investigated show a direct link to the violent 1897 raid by British forces, and may lead to the transfer of objects to Nigeria

Germany kicks off major Benin bronze restitution with return of 20 artefacts to Nigeria

The agreement—signed by the two countries in July—involves the return of 1,100 objects in total

Cologne museum to transfer 92-strong Benin bronze collection back to Nigeria

The Rautenstrauch-Joest-Museum is the latest Western institution to return its collection of artefacts looted from Nigeria in the late-19th century

US campaign group sues Smithsonian over return of Benin Bronzes to Nigeria

Restitution Study Group have lost their first legal battle but insist the case is still pending

Benin bronzes online database goes live with details of thousands of looted artefacts

"Digital Benin" catalogue gathers together information on objects stolen from the Kingdom of Benin and now held in collections around the world

Trove of Benin bronzes in US museum collections repatriated to Nigeria

The National Gallery of Art, the Smithsonian Institution’s National Museum of African Art and the Rhode Island School of Design Museum marked the return of the sculptures with a ceremony in Washington, DC

Museumsanalysis

Berlin's controversial Humboldt Forum is finally complete—but 'the work inside begins now', German Culture Minister says

Twenty years since its conception and at a cost of around €680m, the new German museum must now follow through on its restitution promises

Horniman Museum in London hands over Benin bronzes to Nigeria

Major restitution development coincides with publication of new Arts Council England guidelines

‘The Benin Bronzes are returning home’: Germany and Nigeria sign historic restitution agreement

More than 1,100 looted items will be transferred though some artefacts will remain on loan to German museums

Smithsonian adopts new ‘ethical returns policy’ to handle artefacts with problematic histories

The new policy, adopted by all Smithsonian museums on 29 April, will allow each institution to tailor it to their particular collections and provenance considerations

Smithsonian to return its collection of Benin bronzes to Nigeria

Restitution agreement must still be approved by the museum's Board of Regents

Nigerian installation in London’s St Paul’s Cathedral provokes debate around restitution and colonial monuments

Victor Ehikhamenor's towering work has been placed beside the building's memorial to the man who led the plunder of the Benin bronzes in 1897

What are the next challenges for cultural restitution?

The full story of colonial plundering lies not in museum displays but in unopened, uncatalogued boxes in store rooms

Another UK museum will return a Benin bronze to Nigeria

Great North Museum: Hancock in Newcastle seeks "proactive repatriation" after "forceful removal" by British troops in 1897

Nigeria seeks to calm tensions over return of Benin bronzes

Government museums body takes control of repatriated artefacts after ruler of Benin challenges new trust set up to unify Nigerian claimants

Austria takes first step to return artefacts from colonial era

Though country was not a colonial power, major museums in Vienna have acquisitions of colonial goods

Hamburg shows its Benin artefacts before restituting them to Nigeria

Ethnological museum in the port city has one of Germany's largest collections of Benin treasures

Museums and heritage in 2021: pandemic woes and African treasures

We look back on a year of museums commandeered as Covid-19 vaccine centres, masterpieces sold as NFTs and much talk over the Benin bronzes