logo
episode-header-image
Aug 2023
10m 8s

Returning Benin Bronzes

Bbc World Service
About this episode

In 2004, a chance encounter in Nigeria led to the return of two of the country’s ancient artworks, the looted Benin Bronzes.

The treasures were among thousands stolen from Benin City by the British Army in 1897, and acquired by museums around the world.

More than a century later, Tim Awoyemi and Steve Dunstone were on a charity trip when they were approached by campaigners demanding the bronzes return.

The two men vowed to help, but it took them 10 years before they were able to fulfil that promise, as Tim Awoyemi tells Jane Wilkinson.

(Photo: Benin Bronzes, Nigeria, 2014. Credit: Kelvin Ikpea/AFP via Getty Images)

Up next
Apr 2025
The Cu Chi tunnels of the Vietnam War
During the Vietnam War, North Vietnamese VietCong guerrillas built a vast network of tunnels in the south of the country as part of the insurgency against the South Vietnamese government and their American allies. The tunnel network was a key base and shelter for the North Vietna ... Show More
9m 43s
Jan 30
Ötzi: The Iceman of Bolzano
In September 1991, two German hikers found a dead body while walking through Europe’s Ötzal Alps. It turned out to be a perfectly preserved 5,000-year-old mummy. The archaeologist Konrad Spindler inspected the body along with the assemblage of items recovered from the gravesite. ... Show More
9m 11s
Jan 29
The Kaohsiung Incident
On 10 December 1979, pro-democracy activists clashed with police in Kaohsiung, Taiwan.The incident, which happened during Taiwan's martial law period, paved the way for the transition to democracy.Rachel Naylor speaks to Yao Chia-wen, who was jailed for 12 years for his involveme ... Show More
10m 25s
Recommended Episodes
Jun 2022
Episode #156- What Became of the Benin Bronzes? (Part III)
In the last year the global conversation around the fate of the Benin Bronzes has shifted dramatically. In April of 2021 the German government announced that the vast majority of Benin Bronzes kept in German museums will be returned to Nigeria. This announcement was followed by a ... Show More
1h 4m
Nov 2022
How can countries ensure cultural repatriation?
Museums around the world are returning artefacts to their countries of origin. One in London has sent back its entire collection of Benin Bronzes to Nigeria's government. So,  how can other countries ensure their cultural treasures are given back, and be displayed for generations ... Show More
21m 17s
May 2022
Episode #155- What Became of the Benin Bronzes? (Part II)
In 1897 Queen Victoria marked her diamond jubilee and Britain was in a celebratory mood. The British Empire had never been stronger. Few could imagine that this world-spanning empire might very well be peaking. But in 1897 Britain was in no mood for painful self-reflection. Inste ... Show More
1 h
Aug 2023
Judy Garland's legacy and the Benin Bronzes
<p>A compilation of this week's Witness History episodes. Gerald Clarke, the author of Get Happy: The Life of Judy Garland, speaks to Max Pearson about the legacy of the stage and screen actress who died in 1969.</p><p>We also look at how a chance encounter led to the return of t ... Show More
52m 25s
May 2022
Episode #155- What Became of the Benin Bronzes? (Part II)
In 1897 Queen Victoria marked her diamond jubilee and Britain was in a celebratory mood. The British Empire had never been stronger. Few could imagine that this world-spanning empire might very well be peaking. But in 1897 Britain was in no mood for painful self-reflection. Inste ... Show More
1 h
May 2022
Episode #154- What Became of the Benin Bronzes? (Part I)
Looting has been a part of warfare since the earliest times. Despite the fact that looting was common for much of history, it was always recognized as an especially harmful and humiliating by-product of armed conflict. By the late 19th century, the looting of sacred objects and c ... Show More
1h 11m
Jun 2016
The Bronze Age Collapse
Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss The Bronze Age Collapse, the name given by many historians to what appears to have been a sudden, uncontrolled destruction of dominant civilizations around 1200 BC in the Aegean, Eastern Mediterranean and Anatolia. Among other areas, there were gre ... Show More
47m 12s
May 2023
World War II victory in North Africa
Peter Royle, 103, endured a month of solid fighting in the hills outside of Tunis in 1943. Eventually the Allies prevailed and took more than 250,000 German and Italian prisoners of war. They declared victory in Tunisia on 13 May. Peter came close to dying many times. He recalls ... Show More
11m 32s
Apr 2016
004 Early Bronze Age
<p><span style="font-size: 12pt;">In this episode, we discuss the archaeological evidence for the early Bronze Age on mainland Greece and the Cycladic Islands; the arrival of the Indo-Europeans in Greece (known as the proto-Greeks); and the rediscovery and excavation of three leg ... Show More
21m 16s