The kingdom of Benin, in what is now central Nigeria, was a powerful African state from the Middle Ages until its destruction and invasion by the British at the end of the nineteenth century. In 1897, the British army looted the treasures kept in Benin City and since then thousands of precious objects, mainly bronze and ivory, have been scattered to western countries. The desideratum as well as various attempts to create an overview of the scattered royal treasures of Benin have existed for a long time and have been present in academic circles and in the demands of activists since the 1970s and 1980s. The concrete restitution policy initiated in Germany, in response to a long-standing Nigerian demand, has changed the working relationship between Nigerian and European partners in this field and made this project possible. The international team of the Digital Benin project has brought together around 5000 objects belonging to this heritage, spread across 131 institutions and collections worldwide into a single digital space. Among the many challenges it faces, this paper focuses on the issue of metadata. Will this situation provide an answer to the perennial question: is metadata really interoperable? The answer is: forget everything you know about Dublin Core or whatever!