Swiss Benin Initiative (SBI): Research and Dialogue with Nigeria

The Kingdom of Benin (in present-day Nigeria) was attacked in 1897 by British colonial forces. They destroyed the royal palace and seized thousands of objects. In time, the plundered items - which came to be known as “the Benin Bronzes” - were handled by art dealers before they entered public and private collections around the world. Whether or not the objects in Swiss museums were looted in the course of the British Army’s “punitive expedition” was the core issue for the project.

The collections of the participating Swiss museums contain 96 works from the Kingdom of Benin that were vetted by researchers. Of that number, 21 are found in the collections of the Museum der Kulturen Basel.

The following institutions were involved in the project: Bernisches Historisches Museum, Kulturmuseum St. Gallen, Musée d'Ethnographie de la Ville de Genève, Musée d'Ethnographie de Neuchâtel, Museum der Kulturen Basel, Museum Rietberg der Stadt Zürich, Museum Schloss Burgdorf, Völkerkundemuseum der Universität Zürich. The project Projekt was hosted by the Museum Rietberg under the direction of Dr Michaela Oberhofer and Esther Tisa Francini.

Focused on networked and collaborative research into the provenance of Benin holdings and publication of its findings, the project received funding from the Federal Office of Culture (FOC) and was conducted in two phases.

Phase I (2021-2022): Reconstructing Routes

To reconstruct the sales routes of individual objects from the Kingdom of Benin and present-day Nigeria to their point of accession in Swiss museum collections, provenance research was undertaken by Dr Alice Hertzog and Dr Enibokun Uzebu-Imarhiagbe in Switzerland and Nigeria respectively. 

Research in museum and art dealers’ archives was augmented by the oral accounts of members of craftsmen’s guilds and palace communities in Benin City (now in Nigeria’s federal state of Edo). The provenance researchers were thus able to reconstruct the objects’ “biographies” and the transactions that led them to Switzerland.

Objects were divided into four categories: “Objects looted in 1897”; “Objects likely to have been looted in 1897”; “Objects unlikely to have been looted in 1897”; “Objects not looted in 1897”. In total, 53 objects were classed as looted or likely to have been looted. The findings were published in the research report (Forschungsbericht) for Phase I.

Benin Forum and Joint Declaration 
The Swiss Benin Forum took place in February 2023, attended by representatives from the eight participating Swiss museums and a delegation from Nigeria. The report marking the conclusion of phase I was officially presented to the Nigerians.

An important act during the event was the proclamation of the Joint Declaration of the Swiss Benin Forum that had been drafted jointly by the museums in the Swiss Benin Initiative and the Nigerian delegation. Among other things, the participating museums put on record their openness to a “transfer of ownership” in relation to the 53 objects that had been looted or likely looted in 1897. MKB was a co-signatory to the Joint Declaration.

Phase II (2023-2024): Publication of Findings
Thanks to FOC funding, Phase II of the project started in June 2023. On the one hand, it involved a research assistant (Daniela Müller) undertaking further research into provenances and historical agents and contexts; on the other hand, it saw the participating Swiss museums publish their research findings in a process that entailed close cooperation with partners in Nigeria and among the Nigerian diaspora in Switzerland. There followed a series of exhibitions and events as well as the publication of “In Bewegung: Kulturerbe aus Benin in Schweizer Museen”.

Exhibitions that wholly or partially focused on the project’s Benin research:

Im Dialog mit Benin (Museum Rietberg)

Benin verpflichtet (Völkerkundemuseum Zürich)

Mémoires (Musée d’ethnographie de Genève)

Cargo Cults Unlimited (Musée d’ethnographie de la Ville de Neuchâtel)

Wege der Kunst (Museum Rietberg)

Die Frage der Provenienz (Museum Rietberg)

Vor aller Augen: Benin, Nigeria (Museum der Kulturen Basel)

Findings from phase II of the project were published in a second research report Forschungsbericht.

First Restitutions in 2026
During a formal “Signing Ceremony” held on 20th March 2026, the ownership rights to all the Benin Bronzes looted in 1897 and held in the collections of the Museum Rietberg Zürich, the Völkerkundemuseum der Universität Zürich and the Musée d’ethnographie de Genève were transferred to the Nigerian state.