Swiss museums sent 18 Benin works to Lagos in June, and kept 10 on loan

Switzerland gave Nigeria ownership of 28 objects, yet only 18 Benin works went to Lagos. The other ten stay in Switzerland on loan. Nine are at Museum Rietberg in Zurich, and one is at the Musée d'Ethnographie de Genève.

By our sums, 18 plus 10 makes the 28. So the owner changed for every object, but the place changed for only some. The National Commission for Museums and Monuments received the 18 for Nigeria at the National Museum in Lagos.

The ceremony took place on 29 June 2026. Hannatu Musa Musawa, Nigeria's Minister of Culture, and Swiss Federal Councillor Elisabeth Baume-Schneider were there. They signed an agreement on stopping the illicit transfer of cultural property. The directors of the three Swiss museums attended as well.

The context

The 18 objects come from the Kingdom of Benin and left three Swiss museums. The Ethnographic Museum of the University of Zurich gave 14. Museum Rietberg gave two, and the Geneva museum gave two. Research by the Benin Initiative Switzerland found they were likely looted in the British attack of 1897. The Swiss Confederation's release adds that the project began in 2021, led by Museum Rietberg with eight Swiss museums. The Swiss Federal Office of Culture backed the work.

How the return worked

The legal step came first. The University of Zurich and the cities of Zurich and Geneva signed the transfer of ownership on 20 March 2026. The objects travelled later, and the university museum says all 14 of its works arrived in Nigeria. That museum had shown them in an exhibition called Benin Dues until 8 March 2026.

Where the works go

The vast majority will return to their original home in Edo State, the release says. Most will go first to a storage facility at the National Museum in Benin City. Some will be shown at the National Museum in Lagos. The commission plans a gallery to show all the recently returned Benin works.

Switzerland also returned five other objects that had been seized in Switzerland. They are a bronze bracelet and four archaeological monoliths from the Niger Delta. These came from legal cases, not from museum shelves.

I once lent a pen and lost track of who owned it.

Our view

Check which step a headline describes, because a signature and a delivery are different events. In this case the signature came in March, and the objects reached Lagos in June.