Museums are in the belly with colonial flight

The four museums of Dutch ethnology do not feel comfortable with the colonial theft of their collection. This is why they will soon announce the conditions allowing those interested to claim the art of looting.

Stijn Schoonderwoerd, Director of the National Museum of World Cultures, partnership between the Volkenkunde Museum in Leiden, the Tropenmuseumin Amsterdam, the Afrika Museum in Berg and Dal and the Wereldmuseum in Rotterdam

The four museums want to explain the origin of the 440,000 objects in the collective collection, explains Schoonderwoerd. As the first museum in Europe, he said, restitution criteria have been defined and made public before the end of the year.

Legally interested parties can not take anything against museums, says Schoonderwoerd. "Property issues are long overdue, it is about morals and ethics."

The intention of Dutch museums is in line with a call from French President Macron. A year ago, Macron announced that French museums would hand over African cultural heritage to countries of origin within five years. This led to an international debate or (stolen) art objects shipped to Europe during the colonial era.

The number of objects in the collection of the four dutch museums having a dubious origin has never been inventoried. Schoonderwoerd: "But there are certainly points that raise the question of whether we always feel comfortable with them."

Stolen objects in Benin

Schoonderwoerd calls the 139 objects from the collection of the former kingdom of Benin, in present-day Nigeria. During a punitive expedition in 1897, the British army invaded Benin and thousands of objects were stolen from the royal palace. These bronze plaques, ivory heads and crown ornaments were found at the British Museum, the Humboldt Forum in Berlin and the Museum of Ethnology in Leiden. The Nigerian government has demanded the return of independence from 1960.

According to Schoonderwoerd, by modern standards, stealing art in wartime is unacceptable. "We have since signed UNESCO treaties that prohibit it." But all the 139 Beninese Dutch documents will be transferred, that will not happen. Were these objects captured during the British criminal expedition? It may also be that they were legally collected before 1897. "This must be the subject of a judicial inquiry," Schoonderwoerd says.

There is another legal problem. The collection of the four world museums belongs to the state. In the end, the government decides whether a refund claim will be honored. Museums can only advise the minister on applications.

Part of Benin's Dutch collection will be loaned to Nigeria in three years. This was decided last Friday in Leiden at a conference of the Dialogue Group on Benin, at the initiative of Schoonderwoerd.

At this in camera conference, fifth meeting since 2010, ten ethnographic museums from Europe met with representatives from Nigeria. The museums, which have all parts of the Beninese heritage in 1897, have promised to donate parts of their collection on loan to a new royal museum in Benin, Nigeria, which will open in three years.

Schoonderwoerd does not rule out that the loans are eventually repaid in Nigeria.

On Thursday, NRC publishes an appendix on colonial flight