Netherlands returns colonial-era artifacts

The Netherlands returned six artifacts, including a cannon, a ceremonial sword, and two guns taken from Sri Lanka more than 250 years ago as part of efforts by the former colonial power to redress historical wrongs, officials said in a Reuters report.

Sri Lanka asked the Netherlands to return the artifacts after the Dutch government approved restoring historical objects in 2021.

The artifacts were taken in 1765 from Kandy, the last kingdom

“The objects were wrongfully brought to the Netherlands during the colonial period, acquired under duress or by looting,” it added.

Sri Lanka is grateful to the government and the people of the Netherlands for returning the artifacts, said Buddhasasana Religious and Cultural Affairs Minister Vidura Wickramanayake.

“More to come from the Netherlands and other countries like Great Britain. So we have already started negotiations, and I hope they will be fruitful very soon,” he said.

The artifacts will now be housed at the National Museum in Colombo, and more are expected to follow.

“These objects hold significant cultural and historical value and are now back in Sri Lanka for the Sri Lankan public to view,” said Dewi Van de Weerd, Ambassador for International Cultural Cooperation.

“The value of returning these objects is important because it is about addressing historical injustices.”

The Netherlands returned over 300 artifacts to Indonesia earlier this year, according to its government.

Returning artifacts to formerly colonized countries is a long-running and often sensitive issue.

A dispute between Britain and Greece over the ownership of the Parthenon Sculptures, known as the Elgin marbles, escalated last month, with both sides blaming the other for canceling a planned meeting between their two leaders.

Greece had repeatedly called on the British Museum to permanently return the 2,500-year-old sculptures that British diplomat Lord Elgin removed from the Parthenon temple in Athens in 1806 when Greece was under Ottoman Turkish rule.