UK Returns 6 Looted Nigerian Cultural Artifacts After 125 Years

Agreement Reached in August to Return 72 British Army Looted Artifacts
France and Germany Also Return Looted Cultural Heritage from the Kingdom of Benin

Six returned artifacts with the director of the Horniman Museum in the UK (left) and the chairman of the National Commission for Museums and Monuments (NCMM) of Nigeria standing side by side behind them. Photo by Reuters·Yonhap News

[Asia Economy Reporter Bang Je-il] As demands for the return of cultural properties have increased recently, cases of Western countries returning cultural artifacts looted during the imperialist era to their countries of origin are on the rise. Among them, the United Kingdom has returned six cultural artifacts looted from Nigeria in Africa 125 years ago.

According to The Guardian on the 28th (local time), the Horniman Museum in London, UK, handed over six cultural artifacts looted by the British army in 1897 from the former Benin Kingdom (present-day Benin City, Edo State, southern Nigeria) to Aba Tijani, chairman of Nigeria's National Commission for Museums and Monuments (NCMM).

The Horniman Museum decided to return 72 looted cultural artifacts in its collection following an official request from Nigeria last August. Among these, six cultural artifacts representing the Benin Kingdom, including two 16th-century bronze plaques, were returned first. The Horniman Museum stated that the decision to return the artifacts was made after consultations with the UK government, local communities, academia, and cultural heritage experts.

This is the first time an institution supported by the UK government has returned cultural artifacts looted by the British army in the past. The incident in which the British army took bronze artifacts from the Benin Kingdom in 1897 is considered a representative case of cultural property looting during Africa's colonial rule. At that time, the UK confiscated treasures from the Benin Kingdom and distributed them to military officers or auctioned them in London. Because of this, bronze artifacts that decorated the Benin Kingdom from the 16th to 18th centuries were sold to various museums across Europe. It is currently known that the British Museum holds nearly 900 looted Nigerian cultural artifacts.

Accordingly, The Guardian reported that the Nigerian authorities are expected to increase pressure on the British Museum, which holds the largest collection of Benin Kingdom cultural artifacts worldwide, to return them.

Meanwhile, the return of cultural artifacts looted by European powers during the imperialist era is progressing rapidly. Not only the UK but also France returned treasures such as the ceremonial throne of King Gezo of the Benin Kingdom (1797?1818) to Nigeria last November after two years of negotiations. Germany also returned two Benin bronze artifacts earlier this year and transferred ownership of about 1,000 looted artifacts held by several museums in Germany to Nigeria.