As indicated BBCthe return of 22 works of art follows an agreement reached earlier this year on the transfer of ownership of more than a thousand valuable objects from German collections.
Annalena Baerbock said at a ceremony in Abidjan, Ivory Coast that it was part of the effort to fight the “dark colonial history”. She added that it was an opportunity to right some past wrongs.
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– This restitution shows “a disposition to critically evaluate one’s own actions” while remaining open to the concerns of those who were victims of colonial atrocities – added the head of the German Office diplomacy.
Germany has started returning art looted from Nigeria
Minister of Culture GermanClaudi Roth said that the return of valuable monuments is “historic moment” that not only connects the two countries, but entire continents. – We want to withdraw conclusions to confront colonial history and take responsibility for it – said Roth, quoted by “Deutsche Welle”.
Among the items returned were: the famous ceremonial heads, an ivory carving and a decorated plaque.
– Even 10 years ago, no one could have predicted the return of these bronzes to Nigeria as the obstacles to the realization of the repatriation were apparently insurmountable
Nigerian Information Minister Lai Mohammed said.
Bronze works found their way back to Nigeria
The Benin Bronzes (a city in the southwest of present-day Nigeria) are thousands of sculptures and painted plaques that were created between the 16th and 19th centuries. In 1897, a British expedition brutally conquered the kingdom of Beniu, slept palace and almost completely destroyed the city.
Artifacts looted from the palace were later sold by merchants across Europe. In total, they were more than 5,000. German institutions bought more than 1.1 thousand. of them. Works of art have been preserved or exhibited in 20 German ethnological museums. They are among the most valuable works of art on the African continent.
