The objects were stolen by British soldiers from the Kingdom of Benin in 1897 and the ancient sculptures were then sold to European museums.
With this return, we are contributing to compensating for a historical injustice that still feels today, says the Dutch Minister of Culture Eppo Bruins.
Olugbile Holloway, general director of Nigeria's museum authority, hopes that the Netherlands will inspire more countries.
Germany has also begun to return parts of its collection with 1,100 Benin objects manufactured in the 16th and 17th centuries. The British Museum in London has not done so, however. A British law from 1963 prohibits museums from returning objects.
In Sweden, the government approved in 2023 that the State Museums for World Culture returned 39 objects. France has also returned plundered treasures.
