15 December 2022
The University of Cambridge will return more than 100 looted Benin bronzes artefacts to Nigeria.
The 116 artefacts were taken by British armed forces during the sacking of Benin City in 1897 and have since been in museums in the UK, Europe and US.
During the attack, the British burned the city’s palace and exiled Benin’s Oba, or king, with thousands of brasses and other works – collectively known as the ‘Benin bronzes’ – taken and later sold off in London to recoup the costs of the military mission.
The artefacts, which are considered to be of exceptional artistic quality and significance, have had claims for their return dating back to the mid-20th century.
The university supported a formal claim from Nigeria’s National Commission for Museums and Monuments (NCMM) for the return of the items earlier this year.
It would be recalled that Last month, the Horniman Museum, in south London, returned looted Benin bronzes to Nigeria, while the Wellcome Collection closed its Medicine Man gallery because it “perpetuates a version of medical history that is based on racist, sexist and ableist theories and language”.
However, Downing Street has said there were no plans to change the law which prevents the British Museum handing the Elgin Marbles, also known as the Parthenon Marbles, back to Greece.
