The Prussian Cultural Heritage Foundation has signed a contract with the Nigerian Museum Commission.
It stipulates that all 512 objects from the Kingdom of Benin that are in the collections of the Ethnological Museum Berlin will become the property of the state of Nigeria.
Among them are dozens of objects made of ivory and wood, but also 440 so-called Benin bronzes: the second largest collection of these metal sculptures, mostly cast from brass, in the world.
Two thirds of the objects are to be returned to Nigeria, but one third – 168 pieces – will remain in Berlin “for the time being”, as it is said, on a “long-term” loan limited to ten years.
This deal is not the first, but possibly the decisive stage on the way to an agreement between the western owners of the Benin treasures and the successor state to the Edo kingdom, which lost its independence to the British in 1897.
The contract not only specifies a mix of restitutions and loans that European and American museums can use as a guide in the future, it also sets a time frame in which borrowed objects should at least be on display in the permanent exhibitions of Western cultural institutions.
It is also about historical truth
However, what he does not even come close to clarifying is the question of what influence the Nigerian “partners”, whose willingness to cooperate is constantly emphasized, should have on the presentation of the Benin artefacts in the future.
This is where it gets interesting.
Three years ago, there was a public debate in Germany about how much say the Hohenzollern family should have in the presentation of their permanent loans in public museums.
The tone was sharp, because it was also about historical truth.
On the subject of Benin, on the other hand, flutes are being blown everywhere, including by the Prussian Foundation: They have coordinated "closely" with Nigeria, and in the Benin rooms in the Humboldt Forum, ten "actors" in the restitution process can be seen on video.
In addition, "a Eurocentric narrative" should be broken, as a foundation curator explained at a press conference.
Is the clarification of historical facts just a narrative, or does it rank higher than the myths of nations?
Was the Kingdom of Benin involved in the transatlantic slave trade or not?
Did it use the profits it made to boost its art production and buy firearms with which to subjugate its neighboring peoples, or is that just a Eurocentric exaggeration?
Was there human sacrifice and killing of prisoners?
The German museums should consider how far they want to go to keep some of their Benin bronzes, so that the cultural history does not become a fairy tale.