The lobbying for the return of the looted Benin artefacts by the British colonial troops during the so called “Punitive expedition” of 1897 has not been very successful so far. 3,500 to 4000 of Benin Bronzes, carved ivory tusks, wood carvings and terracottas were carted away from Benin City and more than a century after the invasion the calls for their return are still going on.
But there is hope that these treasures will be brought back to their original home. The Oba of Benin, Oba Ewuare ll, who is the son and successor of Oba Erediawa, is planning alongside with Edo state government to construct a world class museum, where these cultural heritage that will be brought back will be housed, protected and accessible to visitors. The museum will also hold the archive material, which has been collected in the palace for a long time.
Earlier in 2014, the father of the present Oba of Benin (Oba Erediawa) received from Mark Walker, grandson of one of the British soldier who was part of the 1897 invasion of the kingdom, two looted artefacts, a bell and a bird of prophecy which he inherited from his grandfather, Herbert Walker. The returned loot, once used in invoking ancestors by the people of the kingdom, is expected to be among the Benin artefacts that will be in the proposed new world-class museum in Benin City.
“We are planning a palace museum, where the pieces that come back to us will be very save and accessible to visitors”, Oba Ewuare ll said in an interview with Dr Mükke.
The Oba underlines that “we want ‘some’ of the looted objects back, not all. Because they have become ambassadors of our culture around the world.”
The Oba’s Palace is regarded as one of the safest places in the world for a world-class museum, which he asserted “will encourage curators across Europe and in other parts of the world, to be confident and support the advocacy for the safe return of stolen artefacts of Benin Kingdom.”, the Oba also told visitors from British universities in April.
Also the governor of Edo state, Godwin Obaseki, sees the issue of the looted Benin Bronzes as his top priority as it will foster the healing in the aftermath of the colonial trauma that still lingers a century after the punitive expedition. He is working in tandem with the Oba and other relevant authorities.
“These artworks embody who we are: our people, our culture, our religion, even part of our political structure,” Obaseki said.
The Governor who expressed confidence that these treasures would one day arrive Benin City, explained “A hundred years ago, they were brutally snatched away from us, and we’re still trying to get them back. The events of 1897 traumatised our entire people. Don’t forget that Benin was once a world power.”
According to Commissioner for Arts, Culture, Tourism and Diaspora Affairs in the State, Osaze Osemwegie-Ero, the government has recognized these potentials and plans a cluster in order to develop the tourism sector. The commissioner said this wider cluster would be established soon, because it is part of a new economic strategy Nigeria has to follow because the end of the oil age seems to come fast, noting that all over the world alternative energy technologies develop fast and Nigeria might soon loose oil revenues.
Today the 1897 looted objects from Benin Kingdom are shown in dozens of museums in Europe and the US, like the British Museum in London, The Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York or the Ethnological Museum in Berlin. Where ever the Benin artefacts are shown, they belong to the most precious attractions of the African collections. And with the mix of their exhibitions the museums attract a lot of visitors, the British Museum alone more than 6 Million per year.
However, what ever plans are around in Benin City at the moment, high representatives of the Bronze caster guild criticize the government for its little investment in Igun Street, the world heritage site in Benin city where the Bronze Casters Guild showcase their skills and try to sell their products. The guild lobbies for a bronze casting educational centre of international standards, where guests and seminar groups from all over Nigeria and the world can meet. Such a centre would bring visitors and money to Benin City.
The bronze casters have been doing their crafts for centuries as the Benin Bronzes are known for many centuries. The guild produced under the sole directive of the Oba but nowadays they produce for a free market. The world famous Igun Street are visited by customers who are often tourists and Nigerians who may want to give them out as gifts. Representatives of the bronze casters guild get invitations to the United States and Europe from time to time where they explain and teach their extraordinary skills. – But why not invite people from all over the world for bronze casting seminars and cultural heritage tours to Benin-City?
Members of the guild also ask for more government orders and they do this not only to earn more money in difficult times, but also because they are concerned about the next generation of bronze casters. Their questions are, will the bronze casting profession still attractive enough for their sons? Will the younger generation of bronze casters be able to cater for their families properly? Or will they be forced to look for other jobs and centuries old skills will get lost?
It might be that the lack of concern and appreciation of Igun Street and the little investment in the museum infrastructure over the last decades has also contributed to the little outcome of the auctioned in order to refinance the costs of the war. It is estimated that this treasure is worth $0.5 to $1 Billion today.
The National Museum in Benin City exhibits some originals and some replicas of old Benin Kingdom artefacts and tells many interesting details and dates of that history. Many of the museum visitors also are foreigners who very often appreciate these treasures as well as the stories behind them and sometimes visitors often come for research purposes.
The curator of the National Museum in Benin city, Theophilus Omogbai, called for more awareness programmes to educate and sensitize people on the significance of arts and museums to a people’s culture and economy. He advised on campaigns in the various media, especially social media on the need for people to visit the museum and appreciate their history as the cultural heritage exhibited in museums could support Nigerians attitude to leisure, even in the face of personal economic issues.
“From our records, organized school visits constitute the highest statistic of visitors to our museum. The turn out by individual adults is modest”, Omogbai said.
The curator explains that, until the middle and late 1970’s, most Benin families built shrines in their family houses for ancestral worship which many still have them till date. These shrines were practically ‘museums’ without walls, the furnishings of these sacred places comprised mainly of artefacts and sacral objects.
“It makes people believe our work is fetish and a direct negation to the worship of God. This is not true as the museum acquires and exhibits artefacts (art backed by facts) to the public for a better understanding of our cultural identity and heritage”, Theophilus Omogbai told Ikhenebome.
This widespread misperception might be one of the reasons why people cannot bring themselves to terms to the idea of coming to the museum. Paying the token fee for the entry might be another reason in these difficult times.
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This article is part of the Benin-Bronze-Project, a collaboration between Dr. Lutz Mükke and Code for Africa, a pan-African civic organisation, and the two major German newspapers FrankfurterAllgemeine Zeitung and LeipzigerVolkszeitung. Other contributors include John Eromosele, EromoEgbejule and Maria Wiesner. It was financed by the German journalist association „Diligence and courage” and its „Carthographer-Mercator-Programme for Journalists.“
