A museum in the Netherlands has announced it will return 119 bronze artifacts looted from the old Kingdom of Benin in West Africa.

One of the most notorious and ongoing disputes over looted art during colonial activities, most of the hundreds of Benin Bronzes stolen from the kingdom by the British in the 19th century reside at the British Museum.

Dozens have also made it across the Atlantic to institutions in the US, while dozens more were distributed around Europe.

The Museum Volkenkunde in Leiden, or folk art museum, has made an agreement with Nigeria’s National Commission for Museums and Monuments to facilitate the repatriation.

The Kingdom of Benin has no connection to the modern nation-state of Benin, and is located in the Nigerian state of Edo

“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,” Olugible Holloway, the commission’s director, said in a statement.

Other Dutch museums have also been busy repatriating artifacts looted during colonial times—from the Dutch East India Company’s holdings in Indonesia and Sri Lanka.

In total, the repatriations include the ‘Lombok treasure’, consisting of 335 objects from Lombok in the Lesser Sunda Islands of Indonesia, four statues from the Javan Hindu kingdom of Singasari, 132 objects of modern art from Bali, and from Sri Lanka—a cache of ceremonial weapons from the city-states of Kandy and others including a royal canon made of gold, silver, and rubies.

“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.”

In 2022, Nigeria made formal requests to museums around the world for the return of looted artifacts. Institutions in the UK, US, and Germany, have all sent back Benin Bronzes, but never has the nation received so many and at one time.

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about picture: Examples of Benin Bronzes from two German museums – public domain