SACRED BENIN BRONZES: Campaigners want them returned to their ancestral home Pic: Daniel Bockwold / Picture Alliance (CC) THE BRITISH Museum has said it cannot permanently return looted Benin ...

Each of the artifacts was looted by British soldiers in an infamous raid of Benin City (present-day Nigeria) in 1897. The best of Artnet News in your inbox. Sign up for our daily newsletter.

A legal agreement transferred ownership from the Smithsonian to representatives of Nigeria’s National Commission for Museums and Monuments; it was signed in October 2022. Also at that time, a museum ...

The Smithsonian’s National Museum of African Art transferred ownership of 29 Benin bronzes to the National Commission for Museums and Monuments in Nigeria. The bronzes, which were part of the museum’s ...

London’s Horniman Museum has announced it’ll hand over ownership of its 72 bronzes to Nigeria, home to Benin City, which the British looted in 1897. We investigate their story.