Nigeria and Germany have reached an agreement that enables the latter to transfer ownership of 512 Benin Bronzes to the former.
Foundation of Prussian Cultural Heritage (SPK) and Nigeria’s National Commission for Museums and Monuments (NCMM) signed the agreement.
The transfer has been hailed as the largest return of cultural artefacts looted from the continent in the 19th Century.
A statement by the Foundation revealed that the first objects will be returned to Nigeria this year from the Ethnological Museum in Berlin.
“Around a third of the objects transferred will remain in Berlin on loan for an initial period of ten years and will be exhibited in the Humboldt Forum,” it added.
The Benin Bronzes consist of thousands of metal sculptures and ivory carvings seized from the West African kingdom of Benin – in what is today Edo State in southern Nigeria – by a British military force in 1897.
Most ended up in European museums after being sold by businessmen and dealers.
In April 2021, the German government said it wanted to give back hundreds of Benin Bronzes.