The artifacts, known as the Benin Bronzes and mostly housed in a museum in Leiden, were looted in the late 19th century by British soldiers from what is now Nigeria.

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 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 says it will return more than 100 artifacts looted from the Kingdom of Benin, in what is now southern Nigeria, more than a century ago. The Benin Bronzes, plaques and sculptures of metal and ivory that decorated the kingdom's royal palace,

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

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,