Great Britain was once the largest colonial power. But why has the British Museum still not returned stolen works of art to their owners? The pressure is mounting.
One of 92 Benin bronzes from the collection of the Rautenstrauch-Joest-Museum in Cologne, which will be returned to Nigeria
It was a bloody attack by British soldiers in 1897 on the royal palace in the Kingdom of Benin – located in present-day Nigeria – committed. The invaders stole thousands of artistically crafted sculptures made of ivory, brass and bronze. They sold the deported works all over Europe. Even today, the Benin bronzes – all testimonies of an ancient and powerful civilization – are scattered around the globe in museums and private collections.
Is Europe serious about decolonizing its museums? If so, why is it so difficult to return African cultural heritage that was looted during the colonial era? “The Benin bronzes are a touchstone here,” Göttingen historian Rebekka Habermas told DW. “The restitution debate is about reassessing European history.”
Return of the first Benin bronzes to Nigeria
The British Museum in particular, which keeps the lion's share of the art treasures from Benin with around 900 specimens, has so far rejected any claim for return. This does not only apply to the Benin bronzes.
The British No is irritating
In the dispute over the Athens Parthenon frieze, London is also persistently invoking a purely British law, the “National Heritage Act”, according to which the objects are national cultural heritage and are therefore not allowed to leave the country. A position that has little understanding outside of the kingdom.
In fact, the British stance doesn't seem very up to date – from the point of view of restitution expert Habermas, it is merely a “fallback position”. “Laws are there so that you can change them,” says the historian. Unlike in France, Spain, Germany or the Netherlands, for example, the British have not yet come to terms with their colonial past. “Britain's identity is still very much based on Empire,” says the historian. “It's extremely irritating, especially when you're German and have a somewhat fractured relationship to your own past.”
Restitution champions: Cameroonian historian and philosopher Achille Mbembe and French President Emmanuel Macron
Why is it so important to return stolen cultural assets? “There is simply no moral justification for the confiscation of African artefacts in Western museums,” said the Cameroonian philosopher Achille Mbembe in 2021. It will “take the time it takes, but the movement cannot be stopped.” A “symbolic one The end of the colonial period” is also what Rebekka Habermas considers necessary – for the former colonial empires as well as for the formerly colonized areas. “After all, these relationships live on on both an economic and a cultural level.”
In fact, the restitution debate dates back to the 1960s, when the first African states became independent in the wake of the Second World War. For a long time, however, requests for return from Benin to the British Museum and France came to nothing. The topic finally gained new momentum in 2017 from French President Emmanuel Macron, who in a speech in Burkina Faso promised the permanent return of artefacts from sub-Saharan Africa.
The marble sculptures of the Athenian Parthenon Frieze are on display at the British Museum in London. Greece wants her back
Since then, the debate has picked up speed – in Germany, for example, in the course of the planning for the Berlin Humboldt Forum, in Belgium around the opening of the Africa Museum in Terveuren, but also in the Netherlands, in Switzerland or Spain. What is striking: Eastern European countries are just as reticent as the world's largest colonial power, Great Britain.
Federal Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock and Minister of State for Culture Claudia Roth therefore wanted the return of 20 Benin bronzes to Nigeria to be understood a few weeks ago as a “turning point in international cultural policy”. For a long time, the artefacts were part of the collections of museums in Berlin, Hamburg, Cologne, Stuttgart and Dresden/Leipzig. The return, according to Baerbock during the handover ceremony, shows the “willingness to critically evaluate one's own actions” with an “open ear to the concerns of those who were victims of colonial atrocities”. Nigeria's request for return has long been ignored. This is now a first step.
Minister of State for Culture Claudia Roth and Federal Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock at the return of some Benin Bronzes to Nigeria
In Great Britain, the German approach must have been viewed critically, as the restitution debate is making little headway. The British Museum, which is headed by German art historian Hartwig Fischer, said in a statement: “The devastation and looting wreaked on Benin City by the British military expedition of 1897 is fully recognized by the museum, and the circumstances acquisition of the Benin objects are explained in the gallery plaques and on the museum's website.” Nevertheless, the historian Rebekka Habermas is certain: “The pressure on the British Museum must have increased significantly!”