(Radio Iowa) – The University of Iowa’s Stanley Museum of Art has become the first North American institution to return artwork from its collection directly to the royal family of Benin in Nigeria. The two pieces are part of a group of thousands of artifacts, known as the Benin Bronzes, stolen from the kingdom during a British invasion in 1897. Peju Layiwola is a curator at the museum, who attended a ceremony at the royal palace in Benin City to return the art to the oba, or king, of Benin.

“The palace still exists. The lineage and the kings are still there,” Layiwola says, “and so going to the palace of the oba of Benin, to the very place that was sacked, that was plundered, is absolutely the right thing to do.” Cory Gundlach, the museum’s curator of African art, also attended the ceremony. “It’s very exciting for the Stanley Museum of Art to be a leader in this particular context,” Gundlach says, “and to develop a direct relationship with the royal family and the oba in particular.”

His Majesty, Oba Ewuare II, holds up the brass plaque presented to him by Dr. Cory Gundlach (right) during the restitution ceremony at the Royal Palace. (Photo courtesy Stanley Museum of Art)

The pieces that were returned included a brass plaque and a wooden altarpiece.

(contributed by Josie Fischels, Iowa Public Radio)