Dutch Museum removes ‘Anmol’ Benin Bronze for return to Nigeria

Wearing a protective blue surgical gloves, a Dutch museum worker gently ignores a precious decorative artifacts and ignore a precious decorative artifacts before laying on a pillow and wrapping it in dozens of layers of special paper.Artfact is a “benin bronze”, which is a precious cultural object looted from modern-day Nigeria over 120 years ago, which is now being removed from the performance and has returned to its right home.Wereldmuseum (World Museum) in Leiden is restoring 113 of ancient statues, the latest single returns, as the pressure on Western governments and institutions increases, to return the loot of colonial oppression.“They are not here. He was taken violently, so he needs to go back, “the museum director Maryike Van Boom told AFP in an interview.“This is a specific example of the robbed art,” said 50 -year -old.The story of Benin Bronz is one of the violence and tragedy. It began when nine British authorities were killed on a trade mission for the then independent state of Benin, south of the present Nigeria.The British reaction was fierce. London deployed a military operation to avenge its officials. The soldiers killed several thousand local people and held the city of Benin’s capital city.He looted the Royal Palace, including hundreds of artifacts, including Benin Bronze.Most ornate bronze then sold to finance the campaign, auctioned or sold to Museums in Europe and the United States.It was in 1897 and 128 years later, Nigeria is still interacting on the withdrawal of bronze worldwide with mixed results.The Netherlands have agreed to return a total of 119 bronze, six more coming from Rotterdam and Germany has also started handing back its loot.However, the British Museum in London has refused to return any of its famous collections.A law passed in 1963 technically prevents the museum from giving back to the treasury.

Follow this example

The museum director Van Bamel hopes that the Dutch example will be raised worldwide.“I think we all agree that this collection is not in European museums. We hope other countries will follow this example, “he said.The collection is priceless, Van Bamel said. “This is a cultural value, so we never gave any price on it.”The museum in Leiden has restored hundreds of colonial robbery for a community in Indonesia, a former Dutch Colony, Mexico and the United States.Van Bmail said that he had made a deal to keep four bronze on debt, so visitors could continue to learn their story.“We want to talk about the campaign, but also about the whole topic of restoration,” she said.Meanwhile, the museum will replace its collection with the performance of contemporary art.For bronze, they will be sent to Lagos in mid -June.Nigerian President Muhammadu Buhari announced in 2023 that the returned work would not be given to the Oba, the traditional ruler and the Nigerian state.There is a plan to build a museum in the city of Benin in the southern Eido state, where the place will be proud of the place.