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Switzerland returns 18 looted Benin Bronzes to Nigeria By Sarah Miansoni Published on 30/06/2026 - 11:48 GMT+2 Share Comments Add Euronews on Google Share Facebook Twitter Flipboard Send Reddit Linkedin Messenger Telegram VK Bluesky Threads Whatsapp Three Swiss museums have returned 18 Benin Bronzes to Nigeria, a new step in the African's country decades-long struggle to repatriate its looted cultural heritage. Nigeria’s stolen cultural heritage is slowly coming back home. ADVERTISEMENT ADVERTISEMENT On Monday, Swiss authorities returned 18 artefacts looted during the colonial era to Nigeria in a ceremony at the National Museum in Lagos. The restitution is the result of a collaborative process between Swiss museums and their Nigerian partners under the Benin Initiative Switzerland. The programme was launched in 2021 to investigate the provenance of Benin objects in Swiss collections. Monday’s ceremony marked the first step in the implementation of an agreement signed in March 2026, in which Switzerland agreed to eventually transfer ownership of 28 pieces to Nigeria. “The return of our cultural heritage marks more than the recovery of artefacts. It reflects the power of dialogue, t…

Restitution to Nigeria: Swiss museums return 18 major artefacts Download Media Release ENG (PDF, 120 KB)Download Medienmitteilung GER (PDF, 123 KB)Download Communiqué de presse FRE (PDF, 143 KB)Download Comunicato stampa ITA (PDF, 141 KB)Download pictures Lagos, 29 June 2026 – Eighteen artefacts from the Kingdom of Benin have been returned to Nigeria by three Swiss museums. The courtly and religious objects are among the famous ‘Benin Bronzes’, which were looted from the Kingdom of Benin – in modern-day Nigeria – at the end of the 19th century. Switzerland also returned to Nigeria five artefacts seized in this country. During the restitution ceremony, Federal Councillor Elisabeth Baume-Schneider and Nigeria’s minister of culture, Hannatu Musa Musawa, signed an agreement on the transfer of cultural property, with the aim of combating the illicit trade in cultural property and protecting cultural heritage. At a ceremony at the National Museum in Lagos, the National Commission for Museums and Monuments (NCMM), on behalf of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, formally received 18 artefacts from the Kingdom of Benin. Fourteen of these come from the Ethnographic Museum at the University …

Swiss museums return Benin bronzes, artifacts to Nigeria Swiss authorities on Monday returned 18 Benin Bronzes to Nigeria in a ceremony at the National Museum in Lagos, the latest addition to the nation's growing collection of repat...

Benin Bronzes: Complete History and Returns Reading Time: 7 minutes Benin Bronzes: Complete History, Looting & Repatriation In February 1897, a British naval force of 1,200 men invaded the Kingdom of Benin in what is now southern Nigeria. They called it a punitive expedition, retaliation for the killing of a British diplomatic party weeks earlier. What followed was systematic destruction: the burning of Benin City, the killing of thousands, and the looting of the royal palace. Soldiers carried away approximately 5,000 bronze plaques, ivory carvings, and ceremonial objects that had documented centuries of Benin history and artistic achievement. Those objects, known collectively as the Benin Bronzes, would scatter across the world. They now reside in 165 museums and countless private collections. For over a century, they sat in Western institutions while Nigeria repeatedly requested their return. That changed dramatically in 2022 when Germany transferred ownership of over 1,100 bronzes to Nigeria, the largest repatriation of African art in history. This article provides comprehensive coverage of the Benin Bronzes: their creation in the Kingdom of Benin, the 1897 looting, their dispe…

Swiss museums return Benin bronzes to Nigeria - SWI swissinfo.ch Swiss government minister Elisabeth Baume-Schneider visited the African country to mark the beginning of a new chapter in cultural cooperation between the two countries. The visit coincided with the official return of 18 so-called Benin Bronzes. After some 130 years, they are returning to the place from which they were once looted by British colonial troops. In February 1897, British troops raided and plundered the palace of the king, the Oba, in the south-west of what is now Nigeria. + What a Swiss curator has to say about looted art in museums Thousands of ornate objects, regarded as powerful symbols of kingship and the connection to the ancestors, found their way onto the international art market and thus also into Swiss museums. For Nigerians, however, these are not merely exhibition pieces, but part of their own spiritual and cultural heritage, which stretches back many centuries. The significance of their return is therefore immense for Nigerians. “They tell our story. And without history, there is no present,” said Aisha Adamu Augie, director of the Centre for Black and African Arts and Civilisation in L…

Switzerland Returns 23 Benin Artefacts To Nigeria | Naija News Benin artefacts The Federal Government has received 23 cultural objects and looted artefacts from the Benin Kingdom that were returned by Switzerland. Naija News reports that the handover marks another step in Nigeria’s effort to bring back historical items taken from the country many years ago. The returned collection includes 18 Benin Bronzes and five other cultural objects. The bronzes were repatriated by three Swiss museums after years of research and review under a restitution process linked to colonial-era losses. The items are believed to have been taken during the 1897 British military invasion of the Benin Kingdom. The official handover took place at the National Museum in Lagos, where the National Commission for Museums and Monuments received the artefacts on behalf of the Nigerian government. The event brought together officials from both Nigeria and Switzerland to complete the transfer process. Of the 18 bronzes, 14 came from the Ethnographic Museum of the University of Zurich, two from the Museum Rietberg in Zurich, and two from the Musée d’Ethnographie de Genève. Swiss authorities said the return followed…