A Benin Bronze in Berlin’s Ethnological Museum. Photo: Bin im Garten/Wikipedia Commons. June 21, 2021 at 5:04pm
Following up on its promise earlier this year to return its trove of Benin bronzes to Nigeria, and to do so transparently, Germany has lifted the veil on a comprehensive digital database offering images and provenances of the looted artworks in its possession,
Artnews reports. The website, German Contact Points for Collections from Colonial Contexts, offers images and provenances for the objects and will continue to be updated as the repatriation process moves ahead.
The step is the latest taken by Germany, which has led its counterparts in the effort to return its share of the more than 90,000 brass, bronze, and ivory objects stolen by British soldiers in 1897 from the Republic of Benin (now Nigeria) and scattered across the Continent and throughout the world. Some five hundred of the purloined items are estimated to be held in the collec
Berlin Decision On Benin Restitution: Germany On The Way To Restitution Of Looted African Artefacts
modernghana.com - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from modernghana.com Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.
A Benin Bronze held in the collection of Berlin’s Bode Museum.Photo: Richard Mortel/Flickr. April 30, 2021 at 3:41pm
Germany has promised to return its trove of looted artworks known as the Benin Bronzes to Nigeria beginning in 2022. Some five hundred of the more than 90,000 brass, bronze, and ivory objects stolen by British soldiers in 1897 from the Republic of Benin (now Nigeria) are held in the collection of Berlin’s Ethnologisches Museum at the Humboldt Forum, with still more in the possession of more than twenty other museums across the country.
“We want to contribute to understanding and reconciliation with the descendants of those whose cultural treasures were stolen during colonization,” German cultural minister Monika Grütters acknowledged Thursday. In an attempt to coordinate the return of the purloined objects to Nigeria, Grütters that day met with her counterparts from four German states and the chiefs of ethnological museums in B
Statement on the handling of the Benin Bronzes in German museums and institutions LISTEN
APR 30, 2021
On Thursday, 29 April 2021, at the invitation of the Minister of State for Culture and the Media, Monika Grütters, a digital meeting took place on the further handling of the Benin Bronzes in German museums and institutions. The aim is to arrive at a coordinated position in Germany and to reach a common understanding with the Nigerian side. The participants in the talks were the directors of the German museums belonging to the Benin Dialogue Group, which hold the largest collections in Germany from the historical Kingdom of Benin (Nigeria), the responsible Cultural Affairs Ministers of the Länder, the City of Cologne, which runs the Rautenstrauch-Joest Museum, and the Federal Foreign Office.
A Benin relief plaque (16th-17th centuries) showing the King with two dignitaries, currently in the collection of the Museum am Rothenbaum (MARKK) in Hamburg Photo: © Paul Schimweg/MARKK
The German government and directors of the country’s leading museums have agreed to develop a timetable for the permanent return to Nigeria of Benin artefacts looted in a British military raid in 1897, with the goal of handing over the first of the stolen artefacts in 2022.
The federal culture minister Monika Grütters met yesterday with the culture ministers of four German states and the heads of ethnological museums in Berlin, Stuttgart, Cologne, Leipzig and Hamburg, all of which have substantial collections of Benin bronzes. The aim is to ensure a coordinated national approach to restitution and reach a joint settlement with Nigeria. In total, around 25 German museums possess looted items from Benin.
vimarsana © 2020. All Rights Reserved.