Iowa Museum First in US to Return Benin Bronzes

The University of IowaStanley Museum of Arton July 15 handed over twoBenin bronzesto the oba of Benin, becoming the first US institution to return the looted treasures to the former head of the royal family of Benin. The items, a brass plaque and a wooden altarpiece, were presented to Oba Ewuare II during a ceremony held at the Benin Palace in Nigeria.

The Benin bronzes are a trove of thousands of brass, bronze, and ivory objects stolen from the Kingdom of Benin, as Nigeria was then known, in 1897 by British troops and dispersed across the Continent and parts of the West. Many are held in the collections of the world’s most prominent arts institutions, though increasing pressure has in recent years spurred the return of a number of them, with theSmithsonian Institutionin Washington, DC; New York’sMetropolitan Museum of Art; Dublin’sNational Museum of Ireland; andmuseums across Germanyto date having announced the returns of their own Benin bronzes.

The repatriation landscape shifted in 2023, when the Nigerian government named the oba of Benin the lawful custodian of the antiquities. The German government, which in 2021 had promised to begin returning its share of the stolen objects in 2022, was forced to defend its decision to do so after right-wing factions raised fears that the artifacts would be assimilated into the private royal collection and thus vanish from public view.

“It is not my job to tell people what to do with their own possessions. The two works of art restituted were stolen from the oba of Benin in 1897, and they belong to him,” Stanley Museum director Lauren Lessing told the Art Newspaper. “The best way for museums to ensure that the public can see these works in the future is to approach the oba, as they would any other potential lender, and ask. The oba has said that he intends to lend these important works to museums around the world and I have no reason to doubt him. Ultimately, however, he has the right to say yes to loan requests and he also has the right to say no.”