Sat 08 July 2023:
The former colonies of Indonesia and Sri Lanka will receive 478 items of stolen art and cultural property back from the Dutch government.
The Ministry of Culture in The Hague stated on Thursday that the majority of these works are highly valuable and culturally significant.
Items from the Lombok treasure, looted by Dutch troops from a Balinese royal palace. The collection, consisting of 335 objects from Lombok, will be returned to Indonesia. Photograph: World History Archive/Alamy.
State Secretary Gunay Uslu described it as a “historic moment” and said that items were being returned that “should never have been in the Netherlands.”
The decision to repatriate the items was made after taking into account the last year’s recommendations of a government-appointed panel that looked into illegitimate Dutch colonial acquisitions that are presently on exhibit in Dutch museums.
Dutch took the “Lombak Treasure” after capturing the Cakranegara palace in IndonesiaImage: Aly Singh/Rijksmuseum.
The commission was established in response to Indonesia’s request for the return of the artwork and natural heritage collections from its former colonies.
Some of the objects to be handed back include the so-called “Lombok treasure” — a collection of hundreds of precious stones, gold and silver objects, looted by the Dutch colonial army from Indonesia’s island of Lombok in 1894. A part of this treasure was returned to Indonesia in 1977.
The cannon of Kandy, another highlight from the looted pieces, will also be returned to Sri Lanka. The ceremonial weapon is made of bronze, silver and gold, inlaid with rubies.
The barrel, decorated with the symbols of the King of Kandy, is believed to have fallen into Dutch hands in 1765.
Since 1800, the piece has been in the collection of the Rijksmuseum, the national museum of art and history.
A ceremony has been planned this week to officialy hand over the looted artifacts to Indonesia.
Following the king’s apologies for the suffering of thousands of slaves, the Dutch government made its declaration.
Last week Satuarday, King Willem-Alexander asked for forgiveness on the 150th anniversary of the abolition of slavery in the Netherlands, which was one of the largest colonial powers from the 17th century onwards.
The Berlin Museum declared earlier this year that it is prepared to send hundreds of human skulls back to the former German colony of East Africa.
France declared in 2021 that it would return sculptures and thrones that had been seized from the country of Benin in West Africa.
A gold-capped tooth that belonged to Patrice Lumumba, a hero of the Congolese independence movement, was returned by Belgium last year.
SOURCE: INDEPENDENT PRESS AND NEWS AGENCIES
______________________________________________________________
FOLLOW INDEPENDENT PRESS:
TWITTER (CLICK HERE)
https://twitter.com/IpIndependent
FACEBOOK (CLICK HERE)
https://web.facebook.com/ipindependent
Think your friends would be interested? Share this story!
