Nigeria has recorded another major milestone in its campaign to recover stolen cultural heritage, with Swiss museums returning 18 Benin Kingdom artefacts looted during the 1897 British invasion.
The artefacts, widely known as the Benin Bronzes, were formally handed over to the National Commission for Museums and Monuments (NCMM) on behalf of the Federal Government during a ceremony at the National Museum in Lagos.
The Government of Switzerland also returned five additional artefacts that had been seized within the country.
At the restitution ceremony, Swiss Federal Councillor Elisabeth Baume-Schneider and Nigeria’s Minister of Art, Culture, Tourism and the Creative Economy, Hannatu Musa Musawa, signed an agreement on the transfer of cultural property, reaffirming both countries’ commitment to combating the illicit trafficking of cultural artefacts and protecting heritage.
Of the 18 Benin artefacts, 14 were returned by the Ethnographic Museum at the University of Zurich, two by Museum Rietberg Zurich and two by the Musée d’Ethnographie de Genève (MEG).
The returned pieces include metal and ivory works created at the royal court of the ancient Benin Kingdom before they were looted by British forces in 1897.
The restitution followed years of collaborative provenance research conducted under the Benin Initiative Switzerland.
In addition to the Benin artefacts, Switzerland also returned a bronze bracelet and four archaeological monoliths from Nigeria’s Niger Delta that had been confiscated during criminal investigations.
Some of the recovered artefacts will be displayed at the National Museum in Lagos, while most will eventually be returned to their ancestral home in Edo State.
The ceremony was attended by NCMM Director-General Olugbile Holloway, representatives of the Swiss Federal Office of Culture and directors of the three Swiss museums involved in the restitution.
