Dutch museums take initiative to repatriate colonial-era artefacts

Catherine Hickley: The Art Newspaper

Museums in the Netherlands are taking the initiative in the debate over the repatriation of artefacts acquired during the colonial era by sending scholars to former colonies and developing guidelines on handling claims and restituting works.

The National Museum of World Cultures, a grouping of three ethnology museums in Amsterdam, Leiden and Nijmegen, published guidelines earlier this month calling for the restitution of works taken without consent. The Dutch press has reported that the head of the history department at the Rijksmuseum, Martine Gosselink, is flying to Sri Lanka later this month to speak with scholars there about research into disputed objects in the Amsterdam museum’s collection. …Read More

Image: The Night Watch Gallery at the Rijksmuseum Photo: Erik Smit