For this first episode of a series on the restoration of African works of art, go to Germany. After years of blockade, the country changed its position at the end of April regarding the restoration of African works of art and could therefore be the first to return Benin bronzes to Nigeria.
as reported from Berlin,
The colonial past of Germany, which ended in 1918, has long been forgotten. The Third Reich and the Holocaust crushed the work of memory. But times are changing. Berlin has acknowledged the genocide committed at the beginning of the last century against Herero and Nama in Namibia. And Germany may be the first country to return Benin bronzes to Nigeria, world-famous works of art.
These bronzes are among the most famous works of African art. These brass busts and sculptures were made between the 16th and 18th centuries and decorated the Royal Palace of the Kingdom of Benin in what is now southwestern Nigeria.
During Britain’s invasion of the region in the late 19th century, the king was forced into exile, his palace burned down and confiscated works. 3,000 to 5,000 items were auctioned off in London. A thousand of them were bought by Germany. Almost half are now in Berlin and the rest are distributed in twenty German cities. If the acquisition of these works was legal, the legitimacy of these collections is questioned. Nigeria has tried in vain to get its refund since its independence. But German museums have long turned a deaf ear.
“Historical and moral responsibility”
What then explains this German turn? First, the country’s colonial past has emerged from oblivion. An exhibition at the German Historical Museum contributed to this. Namibia’s demands and the arduous negotiations over the years on the recognition of the genocide against Herero and Namas have shown this painful subject. The debates surrounding the Humboldt Forum in Berlin, which has just opened and which will host non-European gatherings next year, played a role. And Emmanuel Macron’s desire to return cultural goods found in French museums to African countries has resonated in Germany and elsewhere.
At the end of April, Berlin announced the restoration of bronze from Benin from next year. “We are ready to take our historical and moral responsibility and to carry out a memorial work on Germany’s colonial past,” assured Minister of Culture Monika Grütters. At the end of June, Hermann Parzinger, President of the Prussian Cultural Heritage Foundation, was appointed to lead the negotiations with the Nigerian authorities.
“It is not a symbolic gesture with the restoration of two or three works, but it is a significant number. In the future, we hope to be able to continue exhibiting works from Benin in Germany, for example with long-term loans. We want to establish cooperation for the future. This is the potential that lies in the current debates and restorations, he explains.
Exhibitions will open soon in Nigeria
As a consequence of this decision, negotiations will take place in the coming months to find out which objects will be transferred to Nigeria. The “Edo Museum of West African Art” in Benin City, Nigeria will only open in 2024, but a pavilion must allow works to be displayed in advance. These two buildings will be built on the site of the former royal palace that was destroyed by the British.
The specialist in the file, Bénédicte Savoy, author with Felwine Sarr of a report to Emmanuel Macron on the restoration of African cultural heritage has been critical for several years of the blockade of German museums but welcomes the current turning point. “To compare the announcement of the return of the bronze from the Benin to the fall of the Berlin Wall, it is in a way that we are facing a historical event, a change in the world’s cultural order. This speed comes after 40 years of waiting and frustrations on the Nigerian side. They are undoubtedly beautiful pieces of world art, but they are also, and perhaps above all, pieces that bloody episodes of colonial history are often linked to, she says.
Germany may therefore be the first country to return bronze from Benin to Nigeria. For the Humboldt Forum in Berlin, whose rooms dedicated to non-European art will only open next year, we must improvise according to the works that will remain in Berlin.
.
