The university said the sculpture of an Oba, or ruler, of the Kingdom of Benin, had left Nigeria in an “extremely immoral” way, which led him to contact authorities in 2019 to negotiate his return. .
Pressure has risen to return Benin’s bronzes (actually embossed copper alloy sculptures) and other artifacts taken by the colonial powers to their places of origin.
Neil Curtis, head of museums and special collections at Aberdeen, said the Bronze, bought in 1957, had been “blatantly looted”.
“It was clear we had to do something,” Curtis said.
Professor Abba Isa Tijani, director general of the National Commission of Museums and Monuments of Nigeria, said the importance of displaying bronze in Nigeria for the first time in more than 120 years was inexpressible.
“It’s part of our identity, it’s part of our heritage … that’s been taken away from us for many years,” Tijani said.
British soldiers seized thousands of castings and metal sculptures from the Kingdom of Benin, which were then separated from British-ruled Nigeria in 1897.
The British Museum, which contains hundreds of sculptures, has formed a dialogue group in Benin alongside several museums to discuss its exhibition in the city of Benin, some officially on loan. Discussions have been said to be ongoing.
Germany is in talks to return 440 bronzes from Benin as early as the autumn, according to newspaper reports, while Cambridge University’s Jesus College said it had finalized approvals in December to return another bronze. Tijani said American museums had also agreed to return two more bronzes.
The governor of Edo state, of which Benin City is the capital, plans to build a center to store and study the artifacts returned in late 2021 and a permanent museum in 2025.
Victor Ehikhamenor, an artist and native of Edo state, said he hoped the decision would drive others to follow suit.
“Because some of these things are missing in our environment, people are not able to contextualize where we come from,” Ehikhamenor said.