The Netherlands has returned a Benin artefact to the Oba of Benin, Oba Ewuare II, 129 years after British forces invaded the Benin Kingdom and looted historical objects from the royal palace.
The artefact was presented at the Oba’s Palace in Benin City on Tuesday, October 20, during activities marking the monarch’s 10th coronation anniversary.
The return was initiated by the Netherlands as part of efforts to restore historical objects taken from the Benin Kingdom during the 1897 invasion, according to Chief Lucky Imasue, chairman of the coronation anniversary committee and a former deputy governor of Edo State.
Imasue said the return represented an important step in the ongoing campaign to recover Benin artefacts held outside Nigeria. He added that more objects were expected to be returned.
He said the artefact was presented by the Consul General of the Netherlands, Frank Keurnors, alongside Beatrice van Bormann, executive director of Museum De Fundatie in the Netherlands.
Imasue described the presentation as particularly significant because it coincided with the 10th anniversary of Ewuare’s coronation, coming more than a century after the looting of historical objects from the kingdom.
The return adds to ongoing international efforts to repatriate cultural objects removed from African kingdoms during the colonial era.
The 1897 British expedition against the Benin Kingdom resulted in the looting of thousands of artefacts, including bronze plaques, sculptures and ivory works. Many of the objects were subsequently dispersed among museums and private collections across Europe and other parts of the world.
