The Netherlands decided to return the treasures stolen in the colonial era to the owners

The museums themselves are overwhelmed with demands to send the stolen valuables home, but they are in no hurry to return the loot, delaying the process of transferring the exhibits to their rightful owners in every possible way. In this situation, the Netherlands decided to break the vicious circle. On July 10, it became known that the treasures exported from there in modern times have finally officially arrived in Indonesia and Sri Lanka.

Jakarta on Monday welcomed the return of hundreds of artifacts that are part of Indonesian history. Hilmar Farid, Director General of Cultural Heritage at the Indonesian Ministry of Culture, said: “We are really excited. This is a very important moment both for us, Indonesia, and for the Netherlands. And for the relationship between us.”

But a completely understandable hint is added to the words of gratitude: the Indonesian authorities hope that this was not an isolated action and that the Western elites will perceive the decision of The Hague as an incentive to real actions to restore historical justice. In other words, talk about the transfer of looted treasures to former colonies should now move forward. “I also believe that what we have been able to achieve so far is a very significant contribution to the global debate about the return of colonial objects,” emphasized Hilmar Farid.

In particular, the so-called treasures of Lombok arrived in Indonesia. This is a luxurious collection of precious stones, gold and silver jewelry, stolen by Dutch soldiers in 1894 from the royal palace on the island of Lombok during the invasion of the islands of Indonesia. According to experts, they are of great historical importance. A key collection of contemporary art from Bali has also been returned. Recall that the country was under Dutch colonial rule for more than 300 years, until the end of the War of Independence in 1949.

Amsterdam donates a richly decorated 18th-century bronze cannon to Sri Lanka. It is believed that it was presented as an offering by a local aristocrat to the king of the tiny state of Kandy, which existed in the central part of the island of Ceylon. Dutch troops captured Kandy in 1765.

In addition to the cannon, which was one of the exhibits of the Rijksmuseum Amsterdam after it was presented to William V, Prince of Orange, ceremonial weapons made of bronze, silver and gold and inlaid with rubies returned to their homeland. It fell into the hands of the colonists during the Dutch rule over most of the island, which lasted from the capture of the largest city of Colombo in 1656 until the start of the occupation of Ceylon by British soldiers during the French Revolutionary Wars at the turn of the 18th and 19th centuries.

The decision to return the treasures taken out in colonial times by the authorities of Amsterdam was announced on Thursday, July 6, a few days before their direct transfer. Gunai Uslu, State Secretary of the Netherlands for Culture and Media, spoke to the press at that time.

“This is a historic moment. This is the first time we are following the guidelines… to return items that should never have made it to the Netherlands. But more than anything, this is the moment when you need to look into the future. We don’t just return items; we are also entering a period of closer cooperation with Indonesia and Sri Lanka in areas such as collection research, presentations and exchanges between museums,” the official said.

It must be assumed that the willingness to part with the exhibits, so beloved by visitors to the National Museum of World Cultures and the State Museum, was influenced, among other things, by numerous claims from Indonesia and Sri Lanka. It is difficult to be called an advanced European country and teach others about democracy and at the same time keep treasures acquired by dishonest means. In addition, such a step should help improve relations with the former colonies and at least partially make amends for them – a guilt that part of the European public definitely feels.

As a result, the Dutch Council for Culture prepared a report back in 2020. It recommended “unconditionally” the return of items that “the country had reasonable belief had been inadvertently lost by countries under its colonial rule”.

Valika Smulders, head of history at the Rijksmuseum Amsterdam, told The Art Newspaper that there has been a clear shift in perspective.

“The way the museum world looked at these debates in the 20th century was largely concerned with the preservation of objects for future generations, and, obviously, museums in Europe have opportunities for this (to transfer back to their homeland objects removed by the colonial authorities cultural heritage – ed.). But what has changed is our point of view: these objects should tell the stories of our countries, our common history of peoples. Our mission now is to place objects in places where they can best tell important stories.”

The problem is that Britain, France, Spain and Belgium are in no hurry to follow the example of the Netherlands, despite the fiery assurances to the contrary, which have become more frequent in recent years from political figures of various ranks. For example, back in 2017, Emmanuel Macron, during a visit to Burkina Faso, promised to return art objects and other valuable exhibits taken out by the French colonists to African countries. He even claimed that these were the “top priorities” of his government.

More than five years have passed since then, but many artifacts are still kept in the museums of the Fifth Republic. In total, according to Foreign Policy, approximately 90,000 items were seized from the former colonies. By the way, some of the treasures that ended up in private collections, the owners of which are unlikely to want to give up “acquired by overwork”, might not have been included in the statistics. So the real number could be even higher.

In fairness, it is worth recognizing that France nevertheless returned part of the cultural property to Benin in 2021 (according to media reports, there were only 26 of them) and one (!) 19th-century saber to Senegal. But this is obviously only a small part of the loot: more than a dozen countries remain, including Mali, Nigeria, Mauritania, French Guinea and others, which either received nothing at all or a mockingly minimal amount of artifacts.

And in Belgium, it sometimes comes to the point of absurdity when Brussels gives the relatives of the first Prime Minister of the independent Republic of the Congo, Patrice Lumumba, his tooth, but at the same time keeps about 120,000 valuables taken out of the African country during the reign of the Belgian King Leopold II. They do not seem to be planning to part with them at the Royal Museum of Central Africa in the near future. It is understandable: who will voluntarily refuse the priceless treasures that are in his hands?

But if France and Belgium at least pretend that they are ready to meet the governments of the former colonies in Africa and Asia, even if only symbolically, then, for example, the British authorities categorically do not want to return half of the Parthenon marble sculptures, actually stolen by Lord Elgin, to Greece. Michelle Donelan, British Minister of Culture, spoke about this in January.

In the current situation, the issuance of artifacts to Indonesia and Sri Lanka, to which the Netherlands went, can definitely be considered a positive event. This is also stated by the head of the history department of the Rijksmuseum in Amsterdam, Valika Smolders.

“I expect countries of origin and museums here in Europe to debate which items will be returned, and not all of them,” she admits. “But what we will get, all of us, is more knowledge about these items, about how they came into our possession, about their origins, about what stories we can tell. So in the end we will get enrichment from what we do, instead of empty galleries.”