The Benin Bronzes: from the 1897 sack to the returns

On 18 February 1897, according to a study held in Oxford’s research archive, British forces entered Benin City, the capital of the Kingdom of Benin, in what is now Edo State, Nigeria. The Oba, the king, and many residents had fled. The British Museum says the Oba’s palace was burned and partly destroyed, and that the deaths in the conquest cannot be counted. The British left on 21 February.

The attack followed an ambush in January. A British party led by an acting consul-general had gone to Benin City against the Oba’s request to wait. National Museums Scotland and the British Museum say seven British officials died. National Museums Scotland puts the force sent in reply at about 1,200 troops. The Oxford study says 1,500, British and African.

The forces took thousands of objects: cast brass plaques, commemorative heads, ivory tusks and regalia. The British Museum counts more than 900 plaques from one palace storeroom. National Museums Scotland gives 3,000 to 5,000 objects in all. The German Foreign Office says scholars think more than 5,000. The objects came to Britain as official spoils of war or were shared among the men by rank. The Admiralty auctioned many to help pay for the expedition. The Oba was exiled. Several chiefs were executed. The objects spread to museums and dealers in Britain and Germany. A German consul carried two to Berlin in his luggage and sold them in 1898 to the Royal Ethnological Museum.

Today the Foreign Office counts over 1,100 Benin objects in about 20 German museums. The British Museum disclosed in 2022 that it holds 928, and says the British Museum Act 1963 bars its trustees from giving objects away.

On 1 July 2022, in Berlin, Germany and Nigeria signed a joint declaration. It states the political will to transfer ownership of all Benin Bronzes in German public museums, and says 1,130 had been identified. The museums then signed transfer treaties. The Berlin State Museums say they signed for all 512 Ethnological Museum works in August 2022. The Art Newspaper writes that Germany transferred 1,117 objects from five collections, a different total. On 20 December 2022 in Abuja, Germany’s foreign and culture ministers handed over 20 objects, per Reuters. The Berlin State Museums count 22. The foreign minister said that taking the bronzes was wrong, and keeping them was wrong.

In March 2023 Nigeria’s president declared the Oba of Benin the owner and custodian of all returned objects. The BBC and The Art Newspaper date the declaration to 23 March. Reuters and Punch cite the official gazette of 28 March. The Oba may keep the objects in his palace or another secure place in Benin City, and they may not leave his custody without his written consent. The national museums body, the NCMM, was not named. An official told the BBC, “We were blindsided.” Many Edo people welcomed the decree. Critics feared the objects could end up in a private palace, out of public view. Cambridge put off a planned return of 116 objects.

In February 2025 the NCMM and the Oba reached an agreement. Reuters reports that the NCMM head said the Oba gave the NCMM his blessing to display and conserve the objects and to pursue their return. The German Lost Art Foundation says it recognises the Oba’s ownership and rules out sale. Nairametrics, citing the News Agency of Nigeria, reported on 21 October 2026 that the Netherlands had presented one more Benin object to the Oba at his palace. It is the latest report found, from one outlet.