‘If it dies, it’s on you’: Saving Nigeria’s Benin bronze casting

Behind every bronze restitution agreement, according to Al Jazeera, lies a quieter story: Nigeria's master bronze artisans are fighting to keep their centuries-old craft from extinction. The warning from these craftspeople is stark—'If it dies, it's on you'—meaning that bringing artifacts home is meaningless if the knowledge to create them vanishes with the current generation. The real preservation battle isn't about objects in museum cases—it's about keeping alive the techniques, apprenticeships, and living traditions that made those treasures possible.

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