The Benin Bronzes: The King's Ancestors, Taken and Returned

In February 1897, a British force of about 1,200 men under Admiral Harry Rawson marched on Benin City, capital of the kingdom of Benin in what is now southern Nigeria (not the modern Republic of Benin). The attack followed the killing, in January, of a British party that had tried to reach the city during a sacred royal festival. The city was taken and burned, and the Oba, Ovonramwen, was sent into exile. From the royal palace and its altars the soldiers carried away thousands of objects in brass, ivory and wood. They were auctioned to pay for the expedition and scattered to museums across Europe and North America. The world came to know them as the Benin Bronzes.

What they are

• Commemorative heads of past Obas and Queen Mothers, placed on the ancestral altars of the palace, often holding a carved ivory tusk.
• Hundreds of rectangular plaques that once clad the palace pillars, showing the Oba, chiefs, warriors, musicians, rituals and Portuguese traders. Most date from the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries.
• Figures, bells, altar pieces, and carved ivory, including the famous ivory mask of Queen Mother Idia, adopted as the emblem of FESTAC 77, the 1977 Festival of Black and African Arts and Culture in Lagos.
• Most are of brass or bronze, cast by the lost-wax method by the royal guild of casters, the Igun Eronmwon, which still works in Benin City today.
• Much of the metal came from brass bracelets, manillas, brought by European traders. A 2023 chemical study traced many manillas to the Rhineland in Germany.

Where they are

The Digital Benin project (2022) recorded more than 5,000 objects in more than 130 institutions in 20 countries. The largest holding, about 900 objects, is in the British Museum, which is forbidden by law from permanently giving up objects in its collection.

The return

The interactive timeline above follows the objects' history. From 2021 several institutions agreed to return them:

• Germany and Nigeria signed a joint declaration in July 2022, and German museums transferred ownership of more than 1,000 objects; the first 22 were handed over in December 2022.
• The Horniman Museum in London transferred ownership of 72 objects in 2022; the Smithsonian returned 29 the same year.
• In March 2023 a Nigerian presidential declaration recognised the Oba of Benin as the owner of returned objects. This led to debate, including in Germany, about where and how they would be displayed, and between the Oba's palace and plans for a new museum in Benin City.

Symbology and sacred encoding

The Oba between worlds. The Oba was a sacred king, the link between the living and the royal ancestors. Heads on the altars honoured past kings and were the focus of ritual; they were not simply portraits. The head (uhunmwun) was the seat of a person's destiny and judgement.

Mudfish and leopards. The Oba is often shown with legs in the form of mudfish, creatures that live in water and on land, linking him with Olokun, god of the sea and wealth. Leopards were royal animals, symbols of the Oba's power over the wild.

Coral. The Oba's regalia of coral beads, shown on the heads and figures, carried spiritual power and were renewed in ritual.

Connections

African Traditional Religion (ch33) and Sacred Kingship (ch49). Compare the Kebra Nagast (V66), another African royal treasure taken by a British expedition, and the Ishtar Gate (V52) for debates about where sacred objects should be.

From The Divine Archives · https://getconexto.com/vault/benin-bronzes.html