Benin Dues. Dealing with Looted Royal Treasures

24 August 2024 to 14 September 2025

In 1897, British troops attacked the kingdom of Benin in present-day Nigeria. They ousted the king, burned down the capital and looted thousands of royal artefacts from the palace. In Europe, the objects were sold on the art market as "Benin Bronzes". In 1940, Benin artefacts also entered the collection of the Ethnographic Museum.

Today, these objects oblige us as a museum to engage with Nigerian communities, enable their access to their cultural heritage and acknowledge their claims to ownership.

This exhibition, drawing on research from the Swiss Benin Initiative (BIS), has been developed with Nigerian experts from Benin City and diaspora groups in Zurich.

Afro-Swiss Perspectives on African Heritage in a Swiss Museum Joint Guided Tour in English with curator Alexis Malefakis and members of the African Students Association of Zurich (ASAZ) on Sunday, 1 June 2025, 3 pm.

Rider from the kingdom of Benin and curator Alexis Malefakis. — Does the head belong to the rider? Fragments of the cultural heritage of the kingdom of Benin are scattered in over 130 museums around the world. Photo: Kathrin Leuenberger, 2024.

Weiterführende Informationen

Alexis Malefakis, curator
malefakis@vmz.uzh.ch
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Alice Hertzog, curator
hertzog@vmz.uzh.ch
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Together with seven other Swiss museums, we are investigating the provenance of the objects from the Benin Kingdom. Exchange and dialogue with Nigeria are at the forefront of this.
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Film series on provenance and restitution, curated by Nigerian filmmaker and independent film curator Tobi Akinde, March to June 2025.

Tisa Francini, Esther, Hertzog, Alice, Malefakis, Alexis and Oberhofer, Michaela (2024). Mobilizing. Benin Heritage in Swiss Museums. Zurich: Scheidegger & Spiess
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Experts from Nigeria and Switzerland discussed desirable next steps concerning the future of Benin's cultural heritage at the Restitution Forum, with and at the Museum Rietberg.