Germany has signed an agreement with Nigeria to return ownership of over 500 looted Benin bronze artifacts.<\/p>\n
The deal signed by the Foundation of Prussian Cultural Heritage and Nigeria\u2019s National Commission for Museums and Monuments on Thursday will see almost a third of the artifacts remain in German museums on loan, while the rest will be returned to Nigeria starting later this year.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis represents the future concerning artefacts issue; a future of collaboration among museums, a future of according respect and dignity to the legitimate requests of other nations and traditional institutions,\u201d said Abba Isa Tijani, director general of Nigeria\u2019s National Commission for Museums and Monuments.<\/p>\n
German Culture Minister Claudia Roth echoed similar views, adding that \u201cfurther agreements to return such collections will follow over the coming months.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cThis return will serve as an example for all museums in Germany which hold collections from colonial contexts,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
The pieces are sophisticated plaques and sculptures made of bronze, an important genre of art dating back to the 13th century.<\/p>\n
The artifacts were stolen from the Kingdom of Benin, located in modern-day Nigeria, by British soldiers in 1897 and ended up in museums all over Europe. Thousands of objects were also shipped to London as war booty and sold.<\/p>\n
For decades, European countries have been under pressure from campaigners and former colonies to return looted artifacts.<\/p>\n
Some experts estimate that 80-90% of Africa\u2019s cultural heritage is currently in European museums.<\/p>\n
Berlin\u2019s Humboldt Forum has been at the center of a debate surrounding the colonial-era items \u2013 some 20,000 African and Asian artifacts \u2013 in its exhibition halls.<\/p>\n
France also signed a deal last year to start repatriating some artifacts stolen during its colonial rule over the West African country of Benin.\u200b\u200b\u200b\u200b\u200b\u200b\u200b\u200b\u200b\u200b\u200b\u200b\u200b\u200b<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Over 500 artifacts looted by British soldiers more than 120 years ago to be returned.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":12963,"featured_media":15119,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[28,16],"tags":[7,30,26],"class_list":{"0":"post-15122","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-culture","8":"category-news","9":"tag-apie-project","10":"tag-culture","11":"tag-news"},"yoast_head":"\n