Swiss Museums Return 18 Benin Artifacts to Nigeria in Latest Restitution
Three Swiss museums have returned 18 royal and religious artifacts from the Kingdom of Benin to Nigeria, extending a steady wave of restitutions that has reshaped the status of the Benin Bronzes in European collections. The handover ceremony took place today at the University of Zurich, where Swiss Federal Councillor Elisabeth Baume-Schneider and Nigeria’s Minister of Culture, Hannatu Musa Musawa, marked the transfer.
The University of Zurich released 14 objects from its Ethnographic Museum. Museum Rietberg Zurich returned two additional works, and the Musée d’Ethnographie de Genève contributed two more. Together, the objects add to a growing record of returns tied to the 1897 punitive expedition, when British forces looted thousands of bronze sculptures, ceremonial objects, and ivory carvings from the Kingdom of Benin, in what is now Nigeria.
Among the returned pieces is a Benin Eroro, a four-sided ceremonial bell that played a central role in royal rites, political functions, and battle. Its pyramidal face is decorated with images of deceased kings and queens, and its toll was believed to summon ancestral spirits. Also included is a container for herbs and medicines depicting the head of Ofoe, a divine emissary of the deity Ogie’uwu. Without a torso, the vessel rests on three legs.
According to the University of Zurich, some of the returned artifacts will be exhibited at the National Museum in Lagos. Most will be transferred to Edo State and temporarily housed at the National Museum in Benin City under the care of the National Commission for Museums and Monuments, known as the NCMM.
The return comes as museums across Europe continue to confront the legacy of colonial-era collecting. The Benin Bronzes, scattered through museums and private collections worldwide, have become emblematic of efforts by formerly colonized countries to reclaim cultural heritage — and of the difficult questions that remain around ethnographic holdings.
The Swiss handover follows another major transfer last year, when the NCMM received 113 Benin Bronzes from the Netherlands. That was the largest single return of Benin antiquities directly linked to the 1897 looting, according to the commission. With each new restitution, the debate over ownership, custody, and historical accountability grows more concrete.
