Switzerland has returned 18 looted Benin Bronzes and five other cultural items to Nigeria in a major heritage repatriation milestone.
Switzerland has returned 18 Benin Kingdom artefacts looted during the 1897 British invasion, marking a major win for Nigeria’s heritage recovery efforts, Channels Television reports.
The Benin Bronzes were handed over to the National Commission for Museums and Monuments at a Lagos ceremony. Fourteen came from the University of Zurich’s Ethnographic Museum, while Museum Rietberg Zurich and Geneva’s Musée d’Ethnographie contributed two each.
Switzerland also returned five more items, including a bronze bracelet and four Niger Delta monoliths seized during criminal proceedings.
Swiss Federal Councillor Elisabeth Baume-Schneider and Nigeria’s Culture Minister Hannatu Musawa signed agreements to boost cooperation against illicit cultural trafficking.
Some artefacts will stay at the National Museum in Lagos, while most return to Edo State, according to Channels Television.
NEWS NOW:
