Benin Bronzes from the Netherlands returning home to Nigeria

News item | 18-06-2025 | 17:00

Back in February this year, the Dutch Minister of Education, Culture and Science, Eppo Bruins, announced his decision to return the Benin Bronzes from the Dutch State Collection. The return is unconditional, recognising that the objects were looted during the British attack on Benin City in 1897, and should have never ended up in the Netherlands. On 19 February, Minister Bruins and the Director-General of the Nigerian National Commission for Museums and Monuments (NCMM), Olugbile Holloway, signed the transfer agreements at the Wereldmuseum in Leiden, the Netherlands, where the objects were previously displayed.

This week, the Bronzes’ journey home will conclude with an official handover ceremony at the National Museum in Lagos, in the presence of the Minister of Art, Culture, Tourism and Creative Economy Hannatu Musa Musawa, the Ambassador for International Cultural Cooperation of the Netherlands Dewi van de Weerd, the DG of the NCMM, the directors of the Wereldmuseum and other officials.

The Nigerian government will decide how and where the artifacts will be displayed. They will initially be stored in the new NCMM Oba Ovonramwen storage facility at the National Museum in Benin City.

The Dutch restitution is the largest physical return of Benin artifacts to Nigeria to date. DG Holloway of the NCMM: “The symbolism of this occasion cannot be overemphasised and what it means for the pride and dignity of not just the Benin people, but the whole of Nigeria. We assure the rest of the world that these objects will be cared for with the utmost attention to detail and displayed in all their glory. We thank the Netherlands for the good example set and look forward to forging even greater ties between our two nations through cultural diplomacy.”

The Netherlands and Nigeria have worked closely together to realise this historic restitution. Dutch Ambassador for International Cultural Cooperation, Dewi van de Weerd: “We congratulate Nigeria on their persistent advocacy for the return of the Benin Bronzes. We hope that this restitution is not the final chapter, but the foundation for further cooperation between Dutch and Nigerian museums.”

Prior to the ceremony, the Netherlands and Nigeria will jointly convene an expert workshop on digital heritage, which will bring together experts from both countries and the wider West African region. In commemoration of the handover, young contemporary artists from Benin City have developed an exhibition on “Reclaiming heritage: new narratives”, which is on display in the National Museum in Lagos.

The Dutch restitution follows the recommendation of the independent Colonial Collections Committee, based on extensive provenance research, and is in line with the Dutch policy on the restitution of objects from a colonial context. Of the 119 objects being returned, 113 of the objects were part of the Dutch State Collection, while the remaining six are given back by the Municipality of Rotterdam. Four items will remain on display in the Wereldmuseum on a loan agreement.