The Case of Benin
Memorandum submitted by Prince Edun Akenzua
I am Edun Akenzua Enogie (Duke) of Obazuwa-Iko, brother of His Majesty, Omo, n'Oba n'Edo, Oba (King) Erediauwa of Benin, great grandson of His Majesty Omo n'Oba n'Edo, Oba Ovonramwen, in whose reign the cultural property was removed in 1897. I am also the Chairman of the Benin Centenary Committee established in 1996 to commemorate 100 years of Britain's invasion of Benin, the action which led to the removal of the cultural property.
HISTORY
"On 26 March 1892, the Deputy Commissioner and Vice-Consul, Benin District of the Oil River Protectorate, Captain H L Gallwey, manoeuvred Oba Ovonramwen and his chiefs into agreeing to terms of a treaty with the British Government. That treaty, in all its implications, marked the beginning of the end of the independence of Benin not only on account of its theoretical claims, which bordered on the fictitious, but also in providing the British with the pretext, if not the legal basis, for subsequently holding the Oba accountable for his future actions."
The text quoted above was taken from the paper presented at the Benin Centenary Lectures by Professor P A Igbafe of the Department of History, University of Benin on 17 February 1997.
Four years later in 1896 the British Acting Consul in the Niger-Delta, Captain James R Philip wrote a letter to the British Foreign Secretary, Lord Salisbury, requesting approval for his proposal to invade Benin and depose its King. As a post-script to the letter, Captain Philip wrote: "I would add that I have reason to hope that sufficient ivory would be found in the King's house to pay the expenses incurred in removing the King from his stool."
These two extracts sum up succinctly the intention of the British, or, at least, of Captain Philip, to take over Benin and its natural and cultural wealth for the British.
British troops invaded Benin on 10 February1897. After a fierce battle, they captured the city, on February 18. Three days later, on 21 February precisely, they torched the city and burnt down practically every house. Pitching their tent on the Palace grounds, the soldiers gathered all the bronzes, ivory-works, carved tusks, and oak chests that escaped the fire. Thus, some 3,000 pieces of cultural artwork were taken away from Benin. The bulk of it was taken from the burnt down Palace.
NUMBER OF ITEMS REMOVED
It is not possible for us to say exactly how many items were removed. They were not catalogued at inception. We are informed that the soldiers who looted the palace did the cataloguing. It is from their accounts and those of some European and American sources that we have come to know that the British carried away more than 3,000 pieces of Benin cultural property. They are now scattered in museums and galleries all over the world, especially in London, Scotland, Europe, and the United States. A good number of them are in private hands.
WHAT THE WORKS MEAN TO THE PEOPLE OF BENIN
The works have been referred to as primitive art, or simply, artifacts of African origin. But Benin did not produce their works only for aesthetics or for galleries and museums. At the time Europeans were keeping their records in long-hand and in hieroglyphics, the people of Benin cast theirs in bronze, carved on ivory or wood. The Obas commissioned them when an important event took place which they wished to record. Some of them of course, were ornamental to adorn altars and places of worship. But many of them were actually reference points, the library or the archive. To illustrate this, one may cite an event which took place during the coronation of Oba Erediauwa in 1979. There was an argument as to where to place an item of the coronation paraphernalia. Fortunately, a bronze-cast of as past Oba wearing the same regalia had escaped the eyes of the soldiers and so it is still with us. Reference was made to it and the matter was resolved. Taking away those items is taking away our records, or our Soul.
RELIEF SOUGHT
In view of the foregoing, the following reliefs are sought on behalf of the Oba and people of Benin who have been impoverished, materially and psychologically, by the wanton looting of their historically and cultural property.
(i) The official record of the property removed from the Palace of Benin in 1897 be made available to the owner, the Oba of Benin.
(ii) All the cultural property belonging to the Oba of Benin illegally taken away by the British in 1897, should be returned to the rightful owner, the Oba of Benin.
(iii) As an alternative, to (ii) above, the British should pay monetary compensation, based on the current market value, to the rightful owner, the Oba of Benin.
(iv) Britain, being the principal looters of the Benin Palace, should take full responsibility for retrieving the cultural property or the monetary compensation from all those to whom the British sold them.
ANNEX II
LIST OF HOLDERS OF LOOTED BENIN ARTEFACTS.
Almost every Western Museum has some Benin objects. Here is a short list of some of the places where the Benin Bronzes are to be found and their numbers. Various catalogues of exhibitions on Benin art or African art also list the private collections of the Benin Bronzes. Most museums refuse to inform the public about the number of Benin artefacts they have and do not display permanently artefacts in their possession since they allegedly do not have enough space. See Dohlvik, Charlotta (May 2006). Museums and Their Voices: A Contemporary Study of the Benin Bronzes (PDF). International Museum Studies, p.26.
A museum such as World Museum, Vienna, formerly Ethnological Museum, Vienna, closed for 17 years (2000-2017) the African section where the Benin artefacts were, apparently due to repair works which were not finished before 2017. The museum re-opened on25 October 2017.
World Museum, Vienna, Re-Opens: Renovated Premises For ...
www.modernghana.com › news › world-museum-vienna-re-opens-re.
Western museums holding looted Benin artefacts appear not to be interested in readers knowing the exact number of the looted Benin artefacts they are holding. Even the Benin Dialogue Group (BDG) does not appear to be interested in the public knowing the exact numbers of Benin artefacts they hold. One could have expected that the major museums would have provided an accurate list of museums and number of Benin artefacts they hold so that we could assess the importance of their proclaimed intention to loan Benin artefacts to Benin/ Nigeria. It does make a difference whether a museum lending one (1) artefact to Nigeria holds two, hundred or five hundred objects. Any pretence of the museums having a mandate or duty to educate the public becomes difficult to sustain in view of this singular failure.
Commons/Reginald Kerr Granville British looters looking at their precious loot. The remains of the metal roof give an idea of the damage done to the building by the British invaders.
The following list does not pretend to be exhaustive but aims at giving an idea about numbers of the artefacts some major museums hold so that arguments about the policies of the museum can be measured against numbers. Hopefully, readers in cities where the museums are located would be able to ask a few questions based on this list and above all, ask whether figures given here are accurate and if not, what the correct figures are.
Berlin – Ethnological Museum/Humboldt Forum 508-580.
Boston, - Museum of Fine Arts 28.
Bristol, Bristol Museum 8
Chicago – Art Institute of Chicago 20
Field Museum 400
Cologne – Rautenstrauch-Joest-Museum 73
Frankfurt am Main -Museum of World Cultures 51
Glasgow _ Kelvingrove and St, Mungo's Museum of Religious Life 22
Hamburg – Ethnological Museum, Museum of Arts and Crafts 200
Dresden – State Museum of Ethnology 182
Leipzig – Ethnological Museum 87
Leiden – National Museum of Ethnology 98
Lisbon- Sociedade da Geografia-3
Museu Nacional de Etnologia-3
Museu nacional da Arte Antigua-1
Liverpool- World Museum 40
London – British Museum 700
Munich-Museum Fünf Kontinente 25
New York – Metropolitan Museum of Fine Art 163
Oxford – Pitt-Rivers Museum/ Pitt-Rivers country residence, Rushmore in Farnham/Dorset 327
Philadelphia -. University of Pennsylvania Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology 100
Stockholm – Museum of Ethnography 43
Stuttgart – Linden Museum-State Museum of Ethnology 80.
Vienna – World Museum, formerly Ethnological Museum 200.
Zurich-Rietberg Museum 11.
According to Kathy Curnow, the following German cities have each not more than 25 Benin artefacts - Braunschweig, Bremen, Dusseldorf, Freiburg, Göttingen, Hannover, Heidelberg, Hildesheim, Mannheim, and Ulm. Kathy Curnow, IYARE! Splendor & Tension in Benin’s Palace Theatre, 2016, p. 201, WWW.IYARE.NET Printed in the USA by Amazon.com
There are considerable numbers of Benin artefacts in leading American museums and galleries.