The Museum of Fine Arts in the US city of Boston has returned two of the famed Benin Bronzes to Nigeria, authorities in the west African nation said late on Monday.
The Ministry of Arts, Culture and Creative Economy on Monday received two Benin bronzes, a bronze relief plaque and a commemorative head, from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, marking a significant milestone in Nigeria’s ongoing efforts to reclaim its cultural heritage.
The artifacts, looted during the 1897 British invasion of the Benin Kingdom, were repatriated from the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, United States.
The move represents “the return of a huge part of Nigeria’s history,” Olugbile Holloway, the head of Nigeria’s National Commission for Museums and Monuments (NCMM) said.
“As much as this occasion is symbolic to Benin, it is also symbolic to Nigeria’s struggle,” he added.
The Benin Bronzes are hundreds of sculptures and plaques that were looted from the royal palace in the Kingdom of Benin, part of modern-day Nigeria, after British forces captured Benin City in 1897.
The priceless artworks, believed to have been crafted in Benin starting in the 1500s, were taken as spoils of war and today are scattered in museums and private collections across the world.
According to the Arts Newspapers in the United States, the MFA, Boston returned the stolen artifacts in a ceremony at the Nigeria House in New York in June 2025.
“I am pleased to deliver these two works of art to Prince Aghatise Erediuwa on behalf of His Royal Majesty Oba Ewuare II,” the MFA’s director, Matthew Teitelbaum, was quoted to have said in a statement by the newspaper.
“As custodians of these exceptional objects for the past 12 years, it is deeply gratifying to see them returned to their rightful owner,” he added.
A symbolic handover to the Ministry of Art and Culture by the Minister of Foreign Affairs took place in the presence of the three high chiefs who represented the Oba of Benin, His Royal Majesty, Omo N’Oba N’Edo Uku Akpolokpolo, Oba Ewuare II.
The event was attended by the management staff of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the Ministry of Art, Culture, Tourism and the Creative Economy, and NCMM.
