Ownership of more than 116 sculptures looted from Benin by the British military in 1897 has been transferred to Nigeria by Cambridge University’s Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology (MAA).
This move will increase pressure on other British institutions to follow suit.
L-R: Prince Aghatise Erediauwa and Professor Nicholas Thomas (2021) – Courtesy MAA
The sculptures include several impressive commemorative heads depicting kings of Benin, or obas, plaques depicting warriors and animals, smaller pendant masks and highly decorated armlets.
The museum’s director, Nicholas Thomas, told The Observer that after “thorough and robust consideration [the] overwhelming view” was that it should relinquish ownership of all 116 Benin objects taken in 1897.
About 100 are expected shortly to be sent to Nigeria, at the university’s cost; the rest will stay in the MAA on long-term loan.
The director general of Nigeria’s National Commission for Museums and Monuments (NCMM), Olugbile Holloway, said he now expected a “domino effect” of artefacts being returned, including from the British Museum, which has 900 Benin bronzes, the world’s largest collection. “The issue has come to their doorstep,” he added.
Political disputes in Nigeria have complicated the process, with the respective interests of the federal government’s NCMM, the state government in Benin City and the current oba, Ewuare II.
Nigeria’s government museums, which are grossly underfunded, have struggled to display the returned bronzes. But Holloway said the privately funded renovation of Nigeria’s National Museum in Lagos – due to be finished in March, and where many of the bronzes from Cambridge will be displayed – will be “completely different… We want to use Lagos as a model, a proof of concept, and the pictures of it will speak for themselves”.
The focus in Britain is now likely to fall on Oxford’s Pitt Rivers Museum, where, also in 2022, the university supported a claim for the return of 97 bronzes.
The National Museum of Scotland has also been in discussion with the NCMM over the return of its own collection.
This leaves the British Museum increasingly isolated, not just in relation to the Benin bronzes, but on the wider issue of how it handles objects taken by force.
MAA curators have participated in study and liaison visits to Benin City since 2018, meeting the Oba, members of the Court, state and federal government leaders, and cultural representatives. The University also hosted the Benin Dialogue Group in 2017, and welcomed NCMM and Royal Court representatives to Cambridge in 2021.
The transfer follows a formal request made to the university by the NCMM in 2022 for the return of artefacts taken by British armed forces during the sacking of Benin City in 1897.
The NCMM is operating under a management agreement with the Benin Royal Palace, whose monarch, Oba Ewuare II, was recognised by the Nigerian government in 2023 as the owner and custodian of all items looted from Benin City.
The NCMM’s claim was supported by the university’s council and subsequently authorised by the Charity Commission.
A statement from the university said the physical transfer of the majority of the artefacts to Nigeria would be arranged in due course.
Uwa Igbafe comments:
For years, restitution has remained largely procedural centred on recognition, policy statements, and shared custodianship models. This case reflects a gradual transition from legal acknowledgement to the actual transfer of artefacts.
