On the Impact of Arts Council England’s New Restitution Guidelines

The guidelines will aim to cover both ethical and legal considerations, and include case studies for how museums and galleries might navigate restitution claims and the return of art and artefacts.

By Samantha Ruston.

Thousands of brass and bronze cast plaques, commemorative heads, and other objects created by specialist guilds for the King of Benin (known as the “Benin Bronzes”) once adorned the royal palace of the Kingdom of Benin located in what is now south-eastern Nigeria. Many of these 16th-century pieces were also commissioned for sacred ancestral altars and used in rituals to revere their ancestors.

In 1897, British forces razed Benin City, destroyed its palace, and looted its contents as “spoils of war”. More than one thousand Bronzes are now displayed in 160 museums and private collections across the world, many of which are now beginning to rethink their position on restitution. This spring, Germany announced plans to return all its Benin Bronzes to Nigeria. This decision came a year after France also approved to return its collection of pillaged objects from the same region. The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, has also just announced plans to return two of its bronzes, releasing a statement that: “The Met is pleased to have initiated the return of these works and is committed to transparency and the responsible collecting of cultural property”.^[1]