THE HAGUE, Netherlands — Two Dutch museums are returning hundreds of cultural artifacts to Indonesia and Sri Lanka — from a richly decorated cannon to precious metals and jewelry — that were looted, often by force, in the colonial era.
The government announced on Thursday the expected restitution of 478 “cultural objects.” Some Western nations are returning looted artifacts and other items as part of a reckoning with their often brutal colonial histories.
A Berlin museum announced in January that it is ready to return hundreds of human skulls from the former German colony of East Africa. In 2021, France said it was returning statues, royal thrones and sacred altars taken from the West African nation of Benin. And last year, Belgium returned a gold covered tooth belonging to the assassinated Congolese independence hero Patrice Lumumba.
“This is a historic moment. It is the first time that, based on the advice of the Advisory Committee on the Return of Cultural Objects from the Colonial Context, we are returning objects that should never have been in the Netherlands,” said Secretary of State for Culture and Media Gunay Uslu. .
The committee was established in 2022 to evaluate requests from countries for the restitution of artefacts in state museums. It is considering further return applications from Indonesia, Sri Lanka and Nigeria.
One of the highlights of the looted items being returned to Sri Lanka is the Kandy Cannon, a ceremonial weapon made of bronze, silver and gold, and inlaid with rubies. The barrel is decorated with the symbols of the King of Kandy: a sun, a crescent and a Sinhalese lion.
The cannon has been in the collection of the Rijksmuseum, the national art and history museum, since 1800. The museum said it was looted by Dutch East India Company troops during the siege and sack of Kandy in 1765.
Museum director Taco Dibbits called the decision to return the barrel and five other pieces “a positive step in cooperation with Sri Lanka.”
A ceremony is planned for July 10 to officially hand over artifacts looted to Indonesia at the Volkenkunde Museum in Leiden, including a collection of jewelry known as the Lombok Treasure looted from the island of Lombok.
