Sweden Returns 39 Benin Bronzes to Nigeria, 77 Sacred Objects to Bolivia

Sweden has returned 39 Benin bronze objects to Nigeria and dispatched 77 looted sacred artifacts to Bolivia, completing two restitutions approved by its government three years ago.

At a ceremony in Lagos, the National Museums of World Culture (SMVK) formally signed over the 39 objects, known as Emwin Arre, to Nigeria. In parallel, according to Swedish media, the 77 objects from Niño Korin village — including the skull of a Kallawaya healer — left storage in Gothenburg bound for the National Museum of Archaeology in La Paz.

The Swedish government, at the time backed by the far-right Sweden Democrats, agreed to both restitution requests in 2022. The transfers only began last week.

Where did the objects come from?

The two collections arrived in Sweden by very different routes.

• The Benin objects are among thousands violently looted by British troops in 1897 from the Edo people of the old Kingdom of Benin, in present-day Nigeria. The former Swedish Museum of Natural History in Stockholm later acquired them. Six will remain in Sweden under a ten-year loan.
• The Bolivian objects date to roughly 600–1000 AD, the Tiwanku period. The SMVK website states locals looted them in grave robberies in the 1970s and later sold them to the museum.

According to SMVK, the restitution process began after "clear signals from the Nigerian authority, the National Commission for Museums and Monuments, that they would welcome the return of all objects."

What does the curator say?

Michael Barrett, curator for Africa at SMVK, attended the signing-over in Lagos. "I hope [this] is part of a broader shift in how our museums relate to the world around us," he told The Art Newspaper on his return.

"For too long colonial legacies of violence, theft, and exploitation have stood in the way of museum practices that are more responsive to a wider set of stakeholders, not least communities who have cultural and historical ties to our collections," Barrett said. "Returning violently looted belongings to their communities of origin is a necessary first step."

He framed the returns as a question of institutional credibility. Museums with "world collections," he argued, can only fulfil their potential as places of learning "in an environment defined by respect, empathy and curiosity" if relationships with source communities become central to their practice.

The six objects staying behind on a ten-year loan complicate the picture slightly; Stockholm keeps physical custody of part of the collection for another decade.

How does Sweden compare with the rest of Europe?

The Swedish transfers follow a widening European pattern.

• Germany handed over a substantial collection of Benin bronzes to Nigeria in 2022.
• The Netherlands returned 119 similar objects in 2025.
• The Dutch Museum de Fundatie returned an additional Benin bronze plaque last month.
• Cambridge University transferred legal ownership of its 116 objects to Nigeria in February.

The British Museum, by contrast, last year ruled out imminent restitution of stolen treasures, proposing "collaboration" instead.

Staffan Lundén, a researcher at the University of Gothenburg's School of Global Studies who has studied the British Museum's Benin holdings and the theme of "dealing with difficult pasts," notes that the Swedish restitutions were largely depoliticised. "The decision was taken by the right-wing government," he said. "It is seen as common sense, moral justice and in line with the Swedish self-perception of being a progressive country which takes international responsibility."

That framing carries a caveat. What Sweden presents as moral consensus, Britain treats as a legal and political impasse — and with the British Museum holding out, the 1897 Benin dispersal will remain only partially undone.