Volper wrote in an earlier article [ in French ]:
- We pointed out the non-existence of an acquisition policy for Nigeria, a country with a significant number of millionaires and billionaires, for heritage objects from the Kingdom of Benin that have been put up for sale for several decades.
- We would also point out that the seizure of objects by the British did not contravene any laws at the time relating to the customs of war, whether European or Beninese. Moreover, this military campaign took place in 1897, and it was not until 1899 that the Hague Convention established the first international legal basis for dealing with looting in the event of conflict.
- Finally, this frenzy of total recovery by Nigeria of these objects that have become “indispensable” is not really in line with what the oba (sovereigns) of Benin demanded in terms of restitution in the past.
- In the present articles he mentions as motivation for the restitution to Benin: If we were a little cynical, we might think that returning the Benin bronzes to Nigeria is more like a Dutch bargain.
In his new contribution [ in English and in French ], Volper writes: In fact, if we were a little cynical, we might think that returning the Benin bronzes to Nigeria is more like a Dutch bargain.
- In 2023, the Wereldmuseum in Leiden and its arts of the world attracted approximately 100,000 visitors per year… a far cry from the appeal of the Rijksmuseum in Amsterdam, with its Rembrandts and its 2,700,000 visitors. From the point of view of the cultural and tourist appeal of the Netherlands, there would not therefore be a real problem in amputating the Leiden collections by a hundred objects.
- By returning these works, the government could buy itself a progressive morality allowing it to ‘package’ a hardening and reorientation of the economic aid devoted to development.
- In relation to point two, it would be important to make an estimate of the current financial value of all the objects promised for restitution to Nigeria… not all of which are masterpieces, far from it. A quick estimate, which would necessarily need to be refined, puts the total at between 15 and 20 million euros. A somewhat expensive advertising campaign, certainly… but acceptable for ‘morality washing’ and, in any case, less expensive than a Nike advert directed by Robert Rodriguez.
Of course, as we said, you would have to be extremely cynical to use the museum’s heritage in this way. But we know that politicians never are.
