The politics of looted African art

DW (English)

European museums hold a substantial collection of African art, much of which stolen during the colonial era. These objects hold deep cultural and historical importance for the societies from which they originate. So why haven’t they been returned to their rightful owners?

Transcript

00:00Europe holds the largest collection of African artefacts.

00:04So why haven't they been returned to their rightful owners?

00:09Major institutions like the British Museum, the Lover, or Germany's Pergamon Museum

00:15don't want to give up their star exhibits.

00:18Doing so would mean giving up on part of their reason to exist.

00:23For the Rautenstrauch Jost Museum in Germany,

00:26it became clear that the artefacts should go back to where they belong.

00:31Curators searched the museum's archives and found more than 90 of the so-called Benin Bronzes.

00:37The Kingdom of Benin was a powerful West African Empire,

00:41located in what is now Southern Nigeria.

00:44It flourished for centuries, known for its sophisticated political system,

00:49remarkable art, and vast trade networks.

00:54For art historian Pedro Leriwola,

00:57removing the inventory numbers from the bronzes was a powerful moment.

01:02It's like putting numbers on people and putting them in jail.

01:06So taking them off is preparing them to go to Benin.

01:09Taking off those marks that have no meaning in the culture.

01:12And we don't put numbers on ancestors.

01:16The Benin Bronzes became a symbol of the fight to return art looted during the colonial era.

01:23The provenance of the objects is clear.

01:25British colonial forces looted them in a brutal raid on the Kingdom of Benin in 1897.

01:31Thousands were killed as the royal palace was plundered.

01:35Since then, generations have waited for their return.

01:39For me, the most important thing is the change of ownership.

01:45And that is the change of power.

01:49Because ownership means control over research, over history, over culture.

01:54When Germany returned the first 22 artifacts in 2022,

01:58the plan was to build a museum for the statues in Nigeria with German support.

02:03But that never happened.

02:05Instead, former president Muhammadu Buhari handed them over to the royal family of Benin in Edo State.

02:12A lot of people weren't happy.

02:14They asked, shouldn't the public be able to see them?

02:18And didn't the former Benin kings participate in the slave trade?

02:23Who gets to decide over the fate of millions of artifacts

02:27lying dormant in museum depots and private collections?

02:31The case has not made it easier for African communities to reclaim their stolen heritage.

02:37Some European museums have even paused returns, adding new conditions.

02:43All this for objects that were never theirs to begin with.

02:48But I am not surprised if they were able to experience the slaves.

02:50I don't know about this in the same way as the homeless are any wonder-

02:51That isn't a business.

02:53But I do not know about it.

02:54So at the same time, no one is a living room.

02:55I'm sorry, I am sorry.

02:57I am sorry, I am not a living room as an elder one.

02:58For a symbol of a symbol of the origin, I am sorry.

03:00This is in December 2,000.

03:01But I am sorry, the new world has been임.

03:02The fear associated with these two things that even may have been missing from Europe,

03:04You must have been very sad.

03:06So I am sorry, I am sorry.

03:08I am sorry.

03:09You must be having an inferior perspective on this spot

03:12You must have evenosed from Europe.

03:13But I am sorry, I am sorry.

03:14I am sorry.

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