{"id":207704,"date":"2021-11-08T21:14:40","date_gmt":"2021-11-08T19:14:40","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/benin-bronzes-what-is-the-significance-of-their-repatriation-to-nigeria\/"},"modified":"2021-11-08T21:14:40","modified_gmt":"2021-11-08T19:14:40","slug":"benin-bronzes-what-is-the-significance-of-their-repatriation-to-nigeria","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/benin-bronzes-what-is-the-significance-of-their-repatriation-to-nigeria\/","title":{"rendered":"Benin bronzes: What is the significance of their repatriation to Nigeria?"},"content":{"rendered":"<div><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/11\/benin-bronzes-what-is-the-significance-of-their-repatriation-to-nigeria.jpg\" class=\"ff-og-image-inserted\"><\/div>\n<p>After years of pressure, western countries are finally returning priceless artefacts and artworks that had been looted from Nigeria during colonial times and were on display in foreign museums. <\/p>\n<p>Commonly called the <a href=\"https:\/\/theconversation.com\/germany-is-returning-nigerias-looted-benin-bronzes-why-its-not-nearly-enough-165349\">Benin Bronzes<\/a>, because the objects originated from the Kingdom of Benin (today\u2019s Nigeria), these beautiful and technically remarkable artworks have come to symbolise the broader restitution debate.<\/p>\n<p>Two British universities \u2013 <a href=\"https:\/\/www.theguardian.com\/education\/2021\/oct\/15\/cambridge-college-to-be-first-uk-return-looted-benin-bronze\">Cambridge<\/a> University and the University of <a href=\"https:\/\/www.bbc.com\/news\/uk-scotland-north-east-orkney-shetland-59063449\">Aberdeen<\/a> \u2013 recently returned two of the artefacts. And, in mid-October, Germany and Nigeria <a href=\"https:\/\/edition.cnn.com\/style\/article\/smithsonian-african-art-benin-bronzes-repatriation\/index.html\">signed<\/a> a memorandum of understanding setting out a timetable for the return of around 1,100 sculptures from German museums.<\/p>\n<p>Jos van Beurden \u2013 an expert on the protection, theft and smuggling of cultural and historical treasures of vulnerable states \u2013 offers his insights into this wave of repatriation. He also suggests a way forward for Nigeria to handle and harness the benefits of the artefacts.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Photo:<\/strong><br \/>Altar to the Hand (Ikegobo), late 18th century, Nigeria, Court of Benin, Edo peoples, Bronze. In the royal kingdom of Benin, cylindrical \u2018altars to the hand,\u2019 or ikegobo, are created to celebrate a person\u2019s accomplishments and successes. Photo by: Sepia Times\/Universal Images Group via <a href=\"https:\/\/www.gettyimages.com\/detail\/news-photo\/altar-to-the-hand-late-18th-century-nigeria-court-of-benin-news-photo\/1296574449?adppopup=true\">Getty Images<\/a>, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.gettyimages.com\/eula#RM\">Rights-managed<\/a> <\/p>\n<p><strong>Music:<\/strong><br \/>\n\u201cHappy African Village\u201d by John Bartmann, found on <a href=\"http:\/\/freemusicarchive.org\/music\/John_Bartmann\/Public_Domain_Soundtrack_Music_Album_One\/happy-african-village\">FreeMusicArchive.org<\/a> licensed under <a href=\"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/publicdomain\/zero\/1.0\/\">CC0 1<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cAfrican Moon\u201d by John Bartmann, found on <a href=\"https:\/\/freemusicarchive.org\/music\/John_Bartmann\/Public_Domain_Soundtrack_Music_Album_One\/african-moon\">FreeMusicArchive.org<\/a> licensed under <a href=\"http:\/\/creativecommons.org\/publicdomain\/zero\/1.0\/\">CC0 1.0 Universal License.<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p> <a href=\"https:\/\/theconversation.com\/africa\/\">Source: The Conversation<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>After years of pressure, western countries are finally returning priceless artefacts and artworks that had been looted from Nigeria during colonial times and were on display in foreign museums. Commonly called the Benin Bronzes, because the objects originated from the Kingdom of Benin (today\u2019s Nigeria), these beautiful and technically remarkable artworks have come to symbolise [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":207705,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_hide_footer_widgets":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":"","ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[4584],"tags":[3257],"class_list":{"0":"post-207704","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-africa-news-2","8":"tag-mypr","9":"entry"},"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/11\/benin-bronzes-what-is-the-significance-of-their-repatriation-to-nigeria.jpg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/207704","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=207704"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/207704\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/207705"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=207704"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=207704"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=207704"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}