BENIN CITY: Artisans on Igun Street in Benin City are fighting to preserve bronze casting as looted artefacts return from foreign museums.
The craft remains rooted in Benin City, in southern Nigeria, where foundries use clay moulds, wax detailing and molten bronze to produce sculptures and plaques.
Artisan Oriakhi Osazee told Al Jazeera that bronze casters were struggling to keep the industry alive as apprentices declined.
Agbonmwenre Alex, who learned the craft from his father at age eight, said his sons viewed the work as outdated and did not want to continue the family trade.
The concern comes as Nigeria receives artefacts looted by British troops during the 1897 Punitive Expedition. Scholars estimate that more than 5,000 works were taken.
Bankole Sodipo, a law professor at Babcock University, helped facilitate the 2021 return of an Oba’s head from the University of Aberdeen and a bronze cockerel from the University of Cambridge.
Nigeria and Germany signed a 2022 agreement to return 1,130 Benin Bronzes. The Netherlands returned 119 artefacts in June 2025, while Cambridge later transferred legal ownership of 116 looted works.
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A custody dispute continues between state-backed museum plans and Oba Ewuare II, who says the artefacts belong to the royal palace.
The Museum of West African Art said it currently holds no Benin Bronzes in its collections. Younger casters are turning to Facebook, WhatsApp, TikTok and websites to reach buyers as raw material costs rise.
Digital Benin is also documenting looted objects, oral histories and local names to correct museum records and preserve cultural memory.
