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Thousands of Looted Benin Bronzes in Museums Worldwide Are Now Listed in Online Database: British Museum Leads with 944 Objects in Top 10

Thousands of Looted Benin Bronzes in Museums Worldwide Are Now Listed in Online Database: British Museum Leads with 944 Objects in Top 10

For the first time since their violent translocation, the Digital Benin platform shows the objects in one unique space accompanied by information that in certain cases had only partially been available to the public.

The desideratum as well as diverse attempts to establish an overview of the dispersed royal treasure of Benin has existed for a long time, and has been present in academic circles (Dark, 1982 ) and activist demands since the 1970s and 1980s. After Nigeria’s independence, calls for the return, loan and/or restitution of the objects looted in Benin were often accompanied by requests for museums to supply listings of their holdings (see Bodenstein, 2022 Savoy, 2021).

Recent developments in online museum catalogues has made it possible to access information on individual institutional holdings in certain cases. However, this access remains difficult for several reasons: first, the objects were part of general catalogues, requiring prior knowledge of object locations, and additionally, such catalogues are in different languages, many different search queries could be required to get a full list and museums often do not publish object information online.

For the first time since their violent translocation, the Digital Benin platform shows the objects in one unique space accompanied by information that in certain cases had only partially been available to the public.

British Museum

United Kingdom

944

Ethnologisches Museum, Staatliche Museen zu Berlin

Germany

518

Field Museum

United States

393

Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology, University of Cambridge

United Kingdom

350

National Museum, Benin

Nigeria

285

Staatliche Ethnographische Sammlungen Sachsen und Staatliche Kunstsammlungen Dresden

Germany

283

Weltmuseum Wien

Austria

202

University of Pennsylvania Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology (Penn Museum)

See Also

United States

188

MARKK Museum am Rothenbaum Kulturen und Künste der Welt

Germany

179

Metropolitan Museum of Art

United States

154

Pitt Rivers Museum

United Kingdom

148

Nationaal Museum van Wereldculturen and Wereldmuseum