Switzerland has joined a growing number of European countries returning Benin Bronzes looted during the colonial era to Nigeria, while a new agreement allows some of the artifacts to remain on display in Zurich.
The Benin Bronzes include bronze plaques, sculptures and ivory carvings that once decorated the royal palace of the Kingdom of Benin, in present-day Nigeria.
British forces looted thousands of the objects during the 1897 expedition to Benin City. They were later dispersed through the international art market and eventually entered museum collections around the world.
Museum Rietberg in Zurich held 11 of the objects – but under a restitution agreement signed earlier this year, ownership of all 11 has been transfered to Nigeria.
Two of the museum's artifacts were physically returned, while the remaining nine will stay in Zurich on long-term loan from Nigeria.
British forces looted thousands of the objects during the 1897 expedition to Benin City. (Photo: CGTN)
The official handover ceremony took place at the National Museum in Lagos on 29 June. A Swiss delegation led by Federal Councillor Elisabeth Baume-Schneider returned 18 Benin artifacts from three Swiss museums to Nigeria's National Commission for Museums and Monuments.
The restitution also included five cultural objects previously seized by Swiss authorities and returned to Nigeria under separate legal proceedings.
During the ceremony, Switzerland and Nigeria signed an agreement on the import, export and repatriation of cultural property, aimed at strengthening cooperation in protecting cultural heritage and preventing the illicit trafficking of cultural objects.
Years of collaborative research
The restitution follows several years of collaborative provenance research carried out under the Benin Initiative Switzerland, which concluded that the returned objects were most likely looted during the British attack on the Kingdom of Benin in 1897.
For Museum Rietberg, the agreement marks the beginning of a new relationship rather than the end of one.
"The most wonderful outcome of this collaboration and this mutual trust and dialogue was that the partners in Nigeria were very interested in us actually keeping some of these works as loans from Nigeria to continue telling the history and the art history of Benin here in Switzerland to the Swiss audience," said the museum's Director Annette Bhagwati.
The arrangement allows visitors to continue learning about the history of the Kingdom of Benin while recognising Nigeria's ownership of the collection.
While debates over restitution continue, museums are increasingly exploring new partnerships with countries of origin through provenance research, long-term loans and shared stewardship of cultural heritage.