By Lisa Vives, Global Information Network<\/p>\n\n\n\n
NEW YORK (IDN) \u2014 The Church of England is joining a handful of museums, universities, and private owners exploring the repatriation to Nigeria of thousands of brass plaques, wooden and ivory sculptures known as the Benin Bronzes looted by British soldiers in the waning days of the colonial era.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The items were seized in 1897 when British forces attacked, plundered and burned the Royal Palace of Benin in what is now southeast Nigeria. All the royal treasures \u2014 some from the 17th century \u2014 were confiscated, with some given to individual officers but most put up for auction in London.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The looted objects eventually made their way into many of the West\u2019s great museums including the British Museum in London, the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York, and in the homes of the Lehman, Rockefeller, Ford, and Rothschild families as well as with Pablo Picasso. The number of objects dispersed internationally is estimated to reach 10,000.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
In March, the University of Aberdeen in Scotland announced it would repatriate within weeks a \u201cBenin Bronze\u201d bust of an Oba, or king of Benin, which it has had since the 1950s. The Horniman Museum in London also confirmed it was taking steps to return artefacts.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Neil Curtis, Aberdeen\u2019s head of museums and special collections, said the Bronze, purchased in 1957, had been \u201cblatantly looted\u201d 124 years ago by British soldiers. \u201cIt became clear we had to do something,\u201d Curtis said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology in Cambridge has one of the largest British collections of Benin bronzes. It said if a claim were made, the expectation was that works with an 1897 provenance would be returned. The Horniman Museum owns 49 works from Benin City including 15 brass plaques, weapons and jewellery.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Until now, the British government said UK institutions should \u201cretain and explain\u201d contested artefacts. Arguments were also put forward that Nigeria was unprepared to receive the repatriated works of art. These arguments no longer hold water since the formation of Legacy Restoration Trust, a Nigerian organization set up to establish and run a world class institution in Benin that can house and showcase the Benin bronzes and other important cultural items.<\/p>\n\n\n\n