UK museum agrees to return looted Benin Bronzes to Nigeria

Exterior of the Horniman Museum and Gardens in London, photographed in July 2013. On August 7, the museum agreed to return its collection of Benin Bronzes to Nigeria, the country from which they were taken in the late 19th century. Image courtesy of WikiMedia Commons, photo credit Looshluz. Shared under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 4.0 International license.
Exterior of the Horniman Museum and Gardens in London, photographed in July 2013. On August 7, the museum agreed to return its collection of Benin Bronzes to Nigeria, the country from which they were taken in the late 19th century. Image courtesy of WikiMedia Commons, photo credit Looshluz. Shared under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 4.0 International license.
Exterior of the Horniman Museum and Gardens in London, photographed in July 2013. On August 7, the museum agreed to return its collection of Benin Bronzes to Nigeria, the country from which they were looted in the late 19th century. Image courtesy of WikiMedia Commons, photo credit Looshluz. Shared under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 4.0 International license.

LONDON (AP) – A London museum agreed on August 7 to return a collection of Benin Bronzes looted in the late 19th century from what is now Nigeria as cultural institutions throughout Britain come under pressure to repatriate artifacts acquired during the colonial era. The Horniman Museum and Gardens in southeast London said that it would transfer a collection of 72 items to the Nigerian government. The decision comes after Nigeria’s National Commission for Museums and Monuments formally asked for the artifacts to be returned earlier this year and following a consultation with community members, artists and schoolchildren in Nigeria and the U.K., the museum said.

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