The University of Cambridge has transferred legal ownership of 116 Benin Bronzes to Nigeria.

The artefacts were looted in 1897 from Benin City, now in Nigeria, by British armed forces. This returning of ownership is part of a larger effort by the University to repatriate objects taken “in the context of colonial violence.”

According to the University, most of the Bronzes, which date from the 13th century onwards, will be physically transferred “in due course”. 17 will stay in Cambridge’s Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology (MAA) on loan.

According to Professor Nicholas Thomas, director of the MAA, dialogue between the University and Nigerian officials has been ongoing “over the last ten years”.

The University hosted a meeting of the Benin Dialogue Group in 2017, and Nigeria made a formal request for the artefacts’ return in 2022.

In 2023, the University paused its repatriation efforts after Nigeria’s president said the artefacts would be given to the private collection of a local king, the Oba of Benin.

In 2024, the Oba’s younger brother said Cambridge had been “duped” into negotiating with a Nigerian government commission, the National Commission for Museums and Monuments, who he argued was not the legitimate claimant.

The two parties have now reached a deal, with the National Commission managing the Bronzes on behalf of the Oba.

Cambridge’s University Council and the UK Charity Commission have both authorised the objects’ repatriation.

In response to this latest development, Thomas said: “It has been immensely rewarding to engage in dialogue with colleagues [in Nigeria] over the last ten years. Over the period, support has mounted, nationally and internationally, for the repatriation of artefacts that were appropriated in the context of colonial violence. This return has been keenly supported across the University community.”

He told The Observer that disputes over the Bronzes’ rightful owner were “a challenge which led to confusion”, with the “wait for clarification from the Nigerian side” accounting for the three-year gap between the University’s decision to repatriate and the transferring of ownership.

Olugbile Holloway, Director General of Nigeria’s National Commission for Museums and Monuments, reacted to the transfer by saying: “This development marks a pivotal point in our dialogue with the Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology at the University of Cambridge and it is our hope that this will spur other museums to head in a similar direction.

“The return of cultural items for us is not just the return of the physical object, but also the restoration of the pride and dignity that was lost when these objects were taken in the first place.”

The decision by the University comes after Jesus College became the first British institution to return a Benin Bronze in 2021, handing over a sculpture of a cockerel that was donated in 1905.