A plan for the return could be signed next month.
The Benin Bronzes are a group of objects that were looted in 1897 by British troops from the Kingdom of Benin, in what is now Nigeria. Those pieces made their way to England and have since been dispersed across the world, ending up in some of the world’s biggest institutions, most notably the British Museum in London. In the past year, following a decision by Germany to The Smithsonian would not be the first U.S.
The Smithsonian’s repatriation would be more extensive, and could spur other U.S. institutions to send back their Benin Bronzes. The agreement would focus on the majority of the 39 Benin Bronzes held by the National Museum of African Art, around half of which had once been on view at one point. That museum previously announced that it was in its holdings with “uncertain provenance,” but the newly reported deal would formalize those plans.
In recent years, the National Museum of African Art has been working to shift the way it presents the Benin Bronzes that it owns. In a panel discussion held last year, Christine Kreamer, the museum’s deputy director, said that the museum no longer used certain terminology—for example, the phrase “punitive expedition” to describe the British troops’ purpose in coming to the Kingdom of Benin—in its wall text to characterize the violent means by which the Benin Bronzes were taken.
One Benin Bronze will not be returned, the spokesperson continued, because it did not come from that 1897 raid. Nigerian officials have made clear that, once the Benin Bronzes are returned, some will be shown in Benin City, in a museum called the Edo Museum of West African Art that had been given a 2025 opening date when it was first announced two years ago. That museum will be designed by David Adjaye, who has described the project as an “undoing of the objectification that has happened in the West through full reconstruction.
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