Benin City in southwest Nigeria. In the last few decades the city with two and a half million inhabitants has achieved notoriety: It is considered a hub for human trafficking. It was once part of the Kingdom of Benin and a thriving trading city, famous for its valuable bronze work. The so-called Benin bronzes, which can be admired in many large European museums, come from here. Among other things, they are to be the centerpiece of the large exhibition for the opening of the new Berlin Humboldt Forum in autumn.
In Benin City, bronze is cast according to an ancient tradition, just as it was 700 years ago. Osarugue Okundaye was born on Igun Street, the street of the bronze foundry guild. Like his father before him, he too learned the trade. He is deeply saddened that the works of art of his ancestors are outside Nigeria: “The bronzes are very, very important to us. They symbolize dignity, royal dignity. I will be happy if we get them back one day. But I do not believe in it. ”
The stolen legacy of Benin City
In 1897 the British invaded Benin City during a so-called punitive expedition: They banished the “Oba”, the king, into exile. They set the city on fire and devastated it, stealing thousands of art objects, including 3,500 to 4,000 bronzes. Around 1100 of these were bought in Germany, 440 alone to Berlin, which thus secured the second largest collection in the world. Their possession is legal, but not legitimate: blood has been shown to be stuck to the pieces.
Admiral Sir Harry Rawson led 1200 elite soldiers in the punitive expedition in 1897.
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Shortly after the massacre of 1897, the then Kingdom of Benin demanded the bronzes back, and today’s Nigeria has been fighting to get the valuable artefacts back since becoming independent in 1960. So far without success. Most recently, an embarrassing diplomatic confusion about the bronzes had arisen. But since the beginning of the year there has been movement in the multi-layered debate: Foreign Minister Heiko Maas has spoken out in favor of correct restitution and an honest handling of colonial history. State Minister for Culture Monika Grütters has commissioned Hermann Parzinger, President of the Prussian Cultural Heritage Foundation, to develop a “strategy “to develop for museums that own art from contexts of injustice.
A paradigm shift is on the horizon
“I think we have reached a kind of cultural fall of the wall,” says Bénédicte Savoy. The historian is considered to be one of the most important scientific voices on the subject of looted art. For five years people have been hiding behind excuses; the objects are legally acquired, they have to be exhibited in the world as witnesses to the history of Europe, continues Savoy. “And suddenly it says: Yes, of course, we’ll give back, we’ll organize it, we’ll have a conference, and that’s very new. It’s electrifying. And it will come too.”
This bell from the 18th or 19th century is part of the ethnological collection of the Staatliche Museen zu Berlin
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In any case, the Humboldt Forum prepares itself for exhibiting without the originals, if possible: “We have to see whether it makes sense to leave gaps and add explanatory texts. Or whether we can exhibit plaster casts of the objects we have.” , explains Jonathan Fine, head of the ethnological collection at the Humboldt Forum. “As a curator, it’s very exciting to deal with global change and try to see an exhibition not as something static, but as something that is part of the dialogue and really dares to involve the audience in the change while it happens. “
Who gives back and to whom?
To be included in the change – if it is actually carried out. The holdings, including the 440 bronzes, do not belong to the Humboldt Forum, but to the Prussian Cultural Heritage Foundation. This has already indicated that restitution should be “considered as an option”, but ultimately the question remains, to whom the art treasures should be returned: to the royal palace? To the Nigerian state, the National Museum in Benin City or the new one “Museum of West African Art”, which is to be built in Benin City by 2024 and for which Andreas Görgen, head of the foreign ministry’s cultural department, is to set up a museum cooperation?
The National Museum in Benin City is one of the most famous in all of Nigeria.
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The “Benin Dialogue Group”, in which German museum officials work together with representatives of Nigeria, is responsible for restitution. Yusuf Tuggar, Nigeria’s ambassador in Berlin, criticized the work of the group in a press release on March 27, 2021, which has been trying to establish a “dialogue on equal terms” in the return dispute since 2010: “A dialogue open to results in which six countries are involved and which consists mainly of museum representatives, could end up being just that: an open-ended dialogue, “writes Tuggar. Furthermore, the ambassador not only demands the return of the Benin bronzes, but also those of the Ife bronzes, which were found in the Nigerian city of Ife in the 1930s, as well as other works of art from the Nok culture.
Colonial humiliation symbol
The highly emotional discussion is about much more than the mere return of art treasures. The bronzes have become a symbol of colonial humiliation. Even more, for some they are evidence of the continued existence of colonial structures, such as Emery Mwazulu Diyabanza. The Congolese activist made headlines in the summer of 2020 when he pulled an African totem pole out of the Parisian “Quai Branly Museum” stole and shared his action on social networks. Afterwards he had to assert himself in court in Paris, but got away with a 1000 Euro fine, a rather symbolic punishment that was presumably intended to deter imitators.
With Diyabanza, a completely new voice joined in in 2020: There was no politician, no scientist or museum person speaking, but a Congolese living in Paris who spoke up for the African diaspora.
In an interview with DW, Diyabanza explains that he and his pan-African group “Unity, Dignity and Courage” are also planning actions in Germany. “The German public is divided on the restitution issue. There are many who no longer want to be associated with these heinous crimes,” said the activist.
Nigeria’s vibrant arts scene
Gallery owner Oyenike Monica Okunaye: “We artists have to create something new!”
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Diyabanza is not alone in wanting to start over. Nigerian artist Oyenike Monica Okundaye also wants to end with the past, albeit in a completely different way than Ambassador Tuggar or activist Diyabanza. “We don’t need the works back. If they are in European museums, our children, who cannot travel back to Nigeria, can see and experience them,” says Okundaye, who runs the largest art gallery in the region in Lagos. Over 5000 Nigerian artists have already exhibited at her place.
“The artifacts represent our soul, our country in every museum in the world. That is good, but we artists also have to create new works that can then be seen.”
Now it remains to be seen how this decades-long dispute over reparation and identity will end – and how long it will be before a decision is made.
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