By Tajudeen Sowole
In Nigeria and
Greece, there are indications that the separate issue of returning
each country's cultural objects held in foreign museums will take new
dimension.
A group sympathetic to the plight of Greece,
known as International Association for the Reunification of the Parthenon
Sculptures (IARPS), late last year sent a letter to the British Prime
Minister, David Cameron, requesting for the return of the controversial ancient
frieze of Athens origin from the holder, the British Museum. IARPS members are in Australia, Belgium,
Brazil, Britain, Canada, Cyprus, Finland, Germany, Italy, New Zealand, Russia,
Serbia, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland and the U.S.
Coincidentally, Nigeria's House of
Representatives has commenced what could be an intervention of the
parliamentarians in the protracted restitution stalemates between the country
and foreign holders of its artefacts.
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Idia mask, Ivory in the British Museum Edo peoples, probably 16th century AD. |
Some days
ago, a member of the House Committee on Tourism and Culture, who did not want
his name mentioned, has disclosed that the lower legislative members in
Abuja may commence a process of meeting the parliaments of some of the
foreign museums that are in possession of looted Nigerian cultural objects. The
thinking of the initiators of the inter-parliament negotiation, it was
gathered, premises on the fact that the powers to return the artefacts may be
beyond the jurisdiction of most of the foreign museums' authorities. With inter-parliaments
meetings between two countries in a dispute, restitution could be achieved
easily, the House of Reps member added.
He hinted that a motion urging the House
Committee on Tourism and Culture to intervene was already on its way to Rules
and Business Committee. "The motion is before the Culture Committee and
they will send it to rules and business." He assured that the motion "will be before the house by
month end."
Nigeria is facing a herculean task of recovering
her cultural properties of ertefacrs status incarcerated in museums across
Europe and the U.S. Top among these cultural objects are the Queen Idia
mask in the British Museum, Nok Terracotta in Louvre, Paris, France, and
several other Benin bronzes and ivories said to have been looted during the
1897 invasion of the old Benin Kingdom by the British soldiers, but currently
housed in Vienna, Austria and German museums. In fact, latest of such artefacts
are several dozens of works in Benin bronzes and ivories recently acquired by
the Museum of Fine Art (MFA), Boston, U.S.
As part of effort towards the return of
the works, the National Commission for Museums and Monuments (NCMM) hosted
a meeting with the authorities of the foreign museum in Benin, last year.
In attendance were Dr. Michael Barrett and Dr. Lotten Gustafsson-Reinius
representatives of the National Museum of Ethnography of the Museums of World
Culture Stockholm, Sweden Dipl. Ethn; Silvia Dolz of Museum für Völkerkunde
Dresden, Staatliche Ethnographische Sammlungen Sachsen of the Staatliche
Kunstsammlungen Dresden, Germany; Dr. Peter Junge
represented Ethnologisches Museum-Staatliche Museen zu Berlin, Germany;
Dr. Barbara Plankensteiner represented Museum für Völkerkunde, Vienna,
Austria; and Dr. Annette Schmidt of the National Museum of Ethnology of
the Netherlands.
Also in
attendance were Rosemary Bodam, Peter Odeh, Babatunde Adebiyi (NCMM
delegation); consultant of legal-related cultural object matter, Prof.
Folarin Shyllon; and representatives of the Benin monarch, Prince Edun
Egharese Akenzua (Enogie of Obazuwa) and Chief Stanley Obamwonyi (Esere of
Benin).
During the meeting, the
Director-General of NCMM, Mallam Usman Abdaldalla Yusuf stated that the
collective sharing idea of the holders has not found much understanding with
the original owners “whose moving tales have become strident finding listeners
all over the world in support of the call for the repatriation of these
artefacts.”
The meeting produced what was tagged
as Benin Plans of Action. It included a projection that could
facilitate the return of the. Artefacts.
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The Elgin Marbles, Athens origin, but in the British Museum, U.K.
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However,
experts and observers were skeptical about the strength of such a gathering getting
the controversial artefacts returned. The Benin Plan of Action did not excite
Prince Edun Akenxua. He advised a legal optionn. "My personal suggestion
to government is to take the case to the international court,” Akenzua said.
“If we lose in court, there is nothing more to lose.”
Also, a prominent commentator
on restitution, Dr Kwame Opoku faulted the Benin Plan of Action. Opoku, noted
that the document lacked "time frame-work or concrete restitution
proposals." He argued that the document "is not in the interest
of Benin, nor of Nigeria nor of Africa."
But shortly before the meeting an
official statement from the Oba of Benin, OmoN'oba Erediuwa appeared to have
predicted the current process of the House of Representatives. Akenzua in the
monarch's speech stated "“Our Legislative Houses should show more interest
in the recovery of these cultural properties. Our law pundits should examine
various aspects of the matter."
Greece's Parthenon Marbles - named Elgin marbles by the British Museum - share
similar protracted issue of ownership with the Nigeria's Benin bronzes and
the Nok Terracotta in foreign museum. It’s been a long journey of several failed
attempts to unite the marbles in the British Museum with those in the new
Acropolis Museum in Greece. The sculptural marbles of representational figures
were thrown into pieces during the Ottoman era invasion. Out of an estimated
160 metres original of these marble sculptures, 75 are known to be in the
British Museum while the rest are in Greece and Italy.
Towards the the
completion of the Acropolis museum, there were signs that the British Museum's argument that
"Greece lacks the right condition to receive the marbles" would be
dead when the museum opens.
During the opening
ceremony of the museum, Greek President, Karolos Papoulias said the museum
offers the opportunity "to heal the wounds of the monument with the return
of the marbles which belong to it." But the Britons were not moved, even
by the £110m ($182m; 130m euros) cost of the new Acropolis Museum.
In 1817, during the Ottoman Empire,
British Ambassador Lord Elgin was said to have negotiated the removal of the
Parthenon sculptures with the Turks authority. On return to Britain and after a public debate in Parliament, Elgin’s action
was exonerated and the marbles purchased by the British government in 1816. The deputy head of the
board of trustees of the British Museum, Bonnie Greer told the Greek authority
that the marbles should remain in London. She argued in favor of “an
international cultural context,” and suggested a loan of the sculptures, only
"if Greece acknowledges British ownership of the marbles."
Currently the row is back in the news courtesy
of the letter by IARPS and fueled by a statement credited to George Clooney, an
American actor-director of a movie of related subject, The Monuments Man.
In the letter, dated December 2, 2013,
the Chairman of the IARPS, David Hill, urges Britain to accept the recent offer
of UNESCO to mediate the issue. He states that there “are now volunteers in 16 countries”
committed to supporting the Greek claim for the sculptures to be
returned.
Hill reminds Cameron about the Director-General of UNESCO, Irini Bokova’s letter to the British Government over a proposal
“to participate in a process of mediation to settle the dispute over the
Parthenon Sculptures.”
Referencing a 2010 UNESCO advisory on
mediation procedures, Hill urges Cameron “to
accept the UNESCO invitation for Britain to participate in the proposed
mediation process.”
Meanwhile, the filmmaker's advice, last
week, which also urged the U.K to return the controversial marble has pitted
him against the Mayor of London, Boris Johnson. The mayor described the actor’s
statement as "advocating nothing
less than the Hitlerian agenda for London's cultural treasures." But
Clooney told The Guardian of London: "When it comes to real facts, not
imagined history, you need only to look at the UNESCO rulings that have been
agreed to by all parties. An occupying nation can't sell off the national
heritage of the country it occupies…”
Perhaps
based on the 2010 UNESCO intervention about mediation procedures as related to
illicitly acquired cultural property, Nigerians who are passionate about the
return of the country’s artefacts may join Hill’s IARPS or set up a similar group.