Berlin, July 1 (BNA) Germany and Nigeria intend to sign an agreement in Berlin on Friday that paves the way for the return of ancient sculptures known as Benin Bronze Sculptures that were taken from Africa in the nineteenth century and displayed in German museums. and in other places.
Governments and museums in Europe and North America have increasingly sought to resolve property disputes over pieces looted during the colonial era, the Associated Press (AP) reports.
A British colonial expedition stole the bas-relief bronze reliefs along with a large number of other treasures in 1897 from the Royal Palace of the Kingdom of Benin, in what is now southern Nigeria.
The Prussian Cultural Heritage Foundation, an authority that oversees many of Berlin’s museums, announced last year that it had begun formal negotiations over the return of the pieces in its collection. Many of them date back to the sixteenth and eighteenth centuries.
The memorandum of understanding will be signed by German Foreign Minister Annallina Barbock, Culture Minister Claudia Roth, Nigerian Culture Minister Lai Muhammed and Minister of State for Foreign Affairs Zubayru Dada.
Final details of the recovery have not been announced, but the Prussian Cultural Heritage Foundation says it expects to keep some of the bronzes on loan from Nigeria.
The Smithsonian has removed 10 Bronze Boys from display at its National Museum of African Art in Washington, D.C., and announced a new ethical returns policy this year. Other US museums have also begun discussions about returning such pieces, while France announced last year that it would return the so-called Abomey treasures to Benin as part of a broader effort to fix the wrongs of colonialism.
Many of the pieces are still in the British Museum which has resisted calls to return them.
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