Quite a few of [the schoolchildren] wrote to us. They all felt, in the way that small children are very clear about morals, they should be returned. Saying that they’re here because they’re here isn’t correct. The point about objects is that their history changes. So there can be another chapter of these objects’ history.
Nick Merriman, the Horniman Museum's chief executive

The Horniman Museum to return 72 Benin bronzes

: 07 August 2022

Liam Kelly the Arts Correspondent for the Sunday Times reported that the Horniman Museum's decision to return 72 artefacts to Nigeria was a watershed moment that had arrived 'amid the Elgin Marbles wrangle'.

"The unanimous decision by the Horniman’s board of trustees is a watershed moment: it is the first museum funded by the government to say that it will return its haul from Benin, which is now in Edo state, Nigeria. Nick Merriman, the Horniman’s chief executive, said the museum’s collection, which includes 15 brass plaques, a brass cockerel altar piece, ivory and brass body ornaments, will be transferred to Nigerian ownership after a request from the African country’s government in January."

Nick Merrimanu568

"The move by the Horniman, which recently won the prestigious Art Fund museum of the year prize partly for its “Reset Agenda” that examined its colonial origins in the wake of the Black Lives Matter protests, may cause the trickle of repatriations to become a flood and raises questions about the fate of other contested objects, such as the 'Elgin Marbles' held at the British Museum. The controversy over the British ownership of Benin bronzes is second only to that of the marbles."

To read the full article in the ST, follow the link here.

And do read the press release from the Horniman Museum also.

Plus on Channel 4 News on 08.08