Over 100 precious Benin Bronzes have been returned to Nigeria from a Dutch museum in a landmark repatriation agreement.

In recent years, about 1,100 objects from German, Scottish, British, and French museums have been returned amid pressure over colonial-era acquisitions.

The Netherlands have officially signed a transfer agreement to give back their Benin Bronzes to Nigeria. On Thursday, January 20, 119 artefacts from the Benin Bronze collection were signed over at a ceremony at the Wereld Museum, in Leiden.

The Netherlands says it will return more than 100 Benin Bronzes that British troops looted from Nigeria in the late 19th Century and which ended up in a Dutch museum. Thousands of these culturally significant sculptures and carvings were stolen during the violent destruction of Benin City, in modern-day Nigeria's Edo state, in 1897.

The Netherlands will return 119 Benin Bronzes to Nigeria which the country took during colonial times. View on euronews

It’s been described as the single largest return to date of the famous Benin antiquities looted by the British military.

The Netherlands agreed to return 119 Benin Bronzes to Nigeria, looted in the late 19th century by British soldiers. This decision marks a significant move as countries and museums seek to resolve colonial-era ownership disputes.

Netherlands has agreed to return 119 Benin Bronzes to Nigeria following a formal request from the Nigerian government, strengthening cultural ties.

The European country made this known in a statement by its embassy in Abuja on Wednesday, February 19, 2025. The valuable artefacts were looted during the British invasion and ended up in a museum in the Netherlands,