The Netherlands has agreed to return more than 100 Benin Bronzes to Nigeria, becoming the latest European country to repatriate cultural artifacts to Africa, the Dutch embassy in Abuja announced on Wednesday.
Nigeria has been actively seeking to recover thousands of intricate bronze sculptures and castings that were looted by British soldiers during a raid on the then-separate Kingdom of Benin, located in present-day southwestern Nigeria, in 1897.
In a statement, the Dutch embassy said that the Netherlands would return 119 artifacts following an agreement signed between its Minister of Education and the head of Nigeria's National Commission for Museums and Monuments, according to Reuters.
The collection includes 113 bronzes that are part of the Dutch state’s holdings, while the remainder will be returned by the municipality of Rotterdam.
“The Netherlands is returning the Benin Bronzes unconditionally, acknowledging that the artifacts were looted during the British attack on Benin City in 1897 and should never have ended up in the Netherlands,” the embassy’s statement read.
The statement also quoted Olugbile Holloway, Director General of the National Commission for Museums and Monuments, who said that this would represent the largest-ever repatriation of ancient artifacts.
The artifacts are expected to arrive in Nigeria later this year.
