Three Swiss Museums Return Trove of Benin Bronzes to Nigeria
Three Swiss museums have returned 18 Benin Bronzes—royal and religious artifacts from the Kingdom of Benin—to Nigeria in a handover ceremony at the University of Zurich attended by Swiss Federal Councillor Elisabeth Baume-Schneider and Nigeria’s Minister of Culture, Hannatu Musa Musawa. The University of Zurich’s Ethnographic Museum returned 14 objects, with two more coming from Museum Rietberg Zurich and two from the Musée d’Ethnographie de Genève. The Benin Bronzes are part of an estimated 5,000 objects looted by British forces during the 1897 punitive expedition and later dispersed globally through illicit channels. Returned works include a Benin Eroro ceremonial bell and a three-legged container for herbs and medicines depicting the head of Ofoe; some objects will be exhibited at the National Museum in Lagos, while most will be transferred to Edo State and temporarily housed at the National Museum in Benin City under the National Commission for Museums and Monuments (NCMM). The article notes that in the previous year the NCMM received 113 Benin Bronzes from the Netherlands, described as the largest single return directly linked to the 1897 looting.
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