It is the latest return of artefacts to Africa, as pressure mounts on Western governments and institutions to hand back the spoils of colonial oppression.
The selection included a bronze carving of a king’s head, a carved elephant tusk and a small leopard.
The sculptures were pillaged from the kingdom’s royal palace and have since been held in museums and private collections across Europe and the United States.
“These are embodiments of the spirit and identity of the people from which they were taken from,“ said Olugbile Holloway, director-general of Nigeria’s National Commission for Museums and Monuments.
“The German government has actually signed a transfer agreement to hand over a 1,000 Benin Bronzes back” to Nigeria, he said.
Nigeria’s art and culture minister Hannatu Musa Musawa, who signed the handover document with the Dutch ambassador for international cultural cooperation, Dewi van de Weerd, said “Nigeria needs to reclaim its history and its heritage”.
Van de Weerd said the Netherlands said the “return of the bronzes which were stolen in 1897 by the British is historic” and would help to restore “dignity”.
Adebimpe Adebambo, a Lagos-based artist who has followed the repatriation of the Benin artefacts over the years, said she had paid “top euro to see the works that were stolen from my country”.
“Im happy that they have come home to us,“ she told AFP at the ceremony.
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