The Netherlands agrees to return more than 100 artifacts to Nigeria looted during colonial times

THE HAGUE, Netherlands — The Netherlands agreed on Wednesday to return a collection of 119 artifacts to Nigeria, the latest objects to be sent back to their homelands as museums grapple with their colonial-era holdings.

The artifacts, known as the Benin Bronzes and mostly housed in a museum in Leiden, were looted in the late 19th century by British soldiers from what is now Nigeria. They will be returned at the request of the Nigeria’s National Commission for Museums and Monuments.

The artifacts include human and animal figures, plaques, royal regalia and a bell.

The development comes as governments and museums in Europe and North America have increasingly sought to resolve ownership disputes over objects looted during colonial times.

Olugible Holloway, the commission’s director, traveled to The Netherlands to sign the transfer agreement during a ceremony at the Museum Volkenkunde marking what he said was the largest single return of antiques looted from Benin.

“We thank the Netherlands for their cooperation and hope this will set a good example for other nations of the world in terms of repatriation of lost or looted antiquities,” Holloway said in a statement.

Nigeria formally requested the return of hundreds of objects from museums around the world in 2022. Some 72 objects were returned from a London museum that year while 31 were returned from a museum in Rhode Island.

The Benin Bronzes were stolen in 1897 when British forces sacked the Benin kingdom, which is now in modern-day Nigeria.

The decision to return the items in the Dutch collection followed an assessment of a committee tasked with looking into requests by countries for restitution of artifacts in state museums. It marked the fifth time Dutch cultural institutions have returned objects based on the committee’s recommendation.

“Cultural heritage is essential for telling and living the history of a country and a community,” Eppo Bruins, the Dutch culture and education minister, said in a statement. “The Benin Bronzes are indispensable to Nigeria. It is good that they are going back.”

The committee is currently considering requests from Sri Lanka, India and Indonesia for the return of objects. In 2023, two Dutch museums returned hundreds of cultural artifacts back to Indonesia and Sri Lanka taken, often by force, during the colonial era.