Swiss Museums Return 18 Benin Bronzes to Nigeria
4July 1, 2026
Three Swiss museums—theEthnographic Museum at the University of Zurich,Museum Rietberg Zurich, andMusée d’Ethnographie de Genève—have collectivelyreturnedeighteen courtly and religious objects from the Republic of Benin (now Nigeria). All of the returned items are among theBenin Bronzes: a priceless collection of thousands of artworks which were looted from the ancient kingdom by British troops in 1897. After the military seized the objects, they were disseminated unlawfully into museum and personal collections around the world. With ongoing discourse surroundingrepatriationand ethnographic collections, each return that takes place is significant.
Of the eighteen items recently returned by Switzerland, fourteen came from the Ethnographic Museum, while the latter two museums each returned two objects. Among the repatriated artifacts is a container for herbs and medicine featuring the divine messenger of death, Ofoe, who is depicted as a three-limbed figure with no torso. Another one of the artifacts returned is an Ẹroro bell—the bells werewornby Benin warriors as signifiers of rank.
In addition to the eighteen artifacts that came from the aforementioned museums, Switzerland also returned five other objects to Nigeria that had been seized as part of Swiss criminal proceedings: four archaeological monoliths and a bronze bracelet.
The items were returned to their country of origin as part of a ceremony held at the National Museum in Lagos, Nigeria. During the ceremony, an international agreement between Switzerland and Nigeria was signed that strengthened agreements between the two countries with regards to their philosophies on the import, export and repatriation of cultural property.
This most recent restitution is the result of the efforts of the Benin Initiative Switzerland, which was launched in 2021. Led by Museum Rietberg Zurich and funded by the Swiss Federal Office of Culture, the Initiative includes the participation of eight Swiss museums total; the Initiative’s aim is to investigate the provenance of all Benin objects in the museums’ possession with full transparency.
Last year, the Netherlands returned 119 Benin Bronzes. In 2022, Germany signed a declaration with Nigeria in which it promised to return all 1,130 Benin Bronzes held in German museums to their country of origin. The University of Cambridge returned 116 Benin artifacts held in its collection earlier this year.