Berlin (dpa / lsw) – With the personal return of valuable bronze plaques and sculptures to Nigeria, Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock and Minister of State for Culture Claudia Roth want to set an example of coming to terms with the colonial past. The two politicians are traveling to the West African state this Sunday, as is the Baden-Württemberg Science Minister Petra Olschowski. Several German museum directors are accompanying the Green politicians, as the spokesman for the Federal Foreign Office announced in Berlin on Friday. Baerbock also wants to find out about the security situation in the north-east of the country.
After the ownership rights were transferred to Nigeria in the summer, a total of 20 bronzes from German collections are to be returned to the capital Abuja, including a mask from the Linden Museum in Stuttgart. Olschowski had presented the ivory mask of Queen Mother Idia from the 16th century as the first object to the representatives from Nigeria and is now also officially delivering it. According to the ministry, the rare mask was stolen by British troops from King Ovonramwen’s bedchamber in 1897.
So far, more than 1100 of the Benin bronzes from the palace of the then Kingdom of Benin have been found in German museums. The objects, which are made of ivory and other materials in addition to bronze, come largely from British looting in 1897.
Baden-Württemberg had transferred ownership of dozens of valuable art objects from the collection of the Stuttgart Linden Museum to Nigeria last Wednesday. Around a third of the 70 objects will initially remain on loan in the Stuttgart museum for the next ten years. Baden-Württemberg had already committed to the restitution procedure in the summer of 2021.
Nigeria is around two and a half times the size of Germany and, with around 220 million inhabitants, is the most populous and economically strongest country in Africa. The main industry is oil production.
