The Netherlands announced on Friday that it will return a total of 288 historical artefacts and cultural objects illegally exported from Indonesia during the colonial period.
The government said the artefacts and cultural objects from the National Collection will be returned on Friday at Indonesia’s request. The statement noted:
The artifacts will be officially returned to Indonesia on September 20 at the Wereldmuseum in Amsterdam, in the presence of the director-general for culture of Indonesia, Hilmar Farid, and the Indonesian Repatriation Committee. These objects were wrongfully taken to the Netherlands during the colonial period and are of cultural interest to Indonesia.
Among the returned items are four Hindu-Buddhist sculptures brought to the Netherlands from the island of Java in the first half of the 19th century, it added.
The remaining 284 items include weapons, coins, jewellery and textiles that were brought to the Netherlands from South Bali in 1906 after the Dutch colonial conquest of the Indonesian islands.
The Colonial Collections Committee examines the origin of cultural artefacts brought to the Netherlands from other countries and makes recommendations for their return in accordance with the national policy on colonial collections.
Following the committee’s recommendations, the Netherlands is returning smuggled historical artefacts for the second time: it had previously repatriated artefacts to Indonesia and Sri Lanka in the summer of 2023. In particular, the Dutch government returned a collection of precious jewellery, gold and silver known as the “Lombok Treasure” to Indonesia. These items were taken by Dutch troops as spoils of war in 1894 after an attack on the island of Lombok.
