Nationaal Museum van Wereldculturen

In March 2019, a document called Return of Cultural Objects: Principles and Process was published, to express “the overall mission of the museum to address the long, complex and entangled histories that have resulted in the collections the museum holds.” It includes a “commitment to transparently address and evaluate claims for the return of cultural objects according to standards of respect, cooperation and timeliness.”[3] In a collaboration with the Rijksmuseum in Amsterdam and the Expertise Centre for the Restitution of Cultural Goods and the Second World War at the National Institute for War, Holocaust and Genocide Studies (NIOD),[5] the NMVW is focused on Indonesia – with projects to consolidate research into colonial-era military expeditions and trading-house networks.

[3] In March 2020, the Dutch culture minister returned a gold-inlaid kris – a large dagger – to the Indonesian ambassador in The Hague, on the basis of provenance research conducted by the museum.

It belonged to Prince Diponegoro, a Javanese rebel leader and Indonesian hero who waged a five-year war against Dutch colonial rule from 1825 to 1830.

[6] "We will examine the diverse routes that objects took to enter museums—were they sold under duress or looted in times of war, traded or exchanged or given as gifts, and if so, was this in a colonial context?

And, finally, this is about reconciliation—how do modes of return or restitution help us to reconcile with the past?” This article incorporates text from a free content work.