European Museums Promise Decolonisation and Restitution by Returning Looted Items

By Thea Reddington

A movement of restitution has recently taken place throughout museums across The Netherlands to return items taken through colonial practices from places such as Indonesia and Sri Lanka. This comes after the formation of a council headed by Dutch Culture Minister Ingrid van Engelshoven which aims to ensure that objects are returned accordingly, additionally calling for a ‘recognition and rectification of injustices.’ The committee has received support from Dutch museums such as the Tropenmuseum, an ethnographic museum in Amsterdam. It was discovered through an audit of the museum that out of its 450,000 objects, 45% were obtained through colonial practices.

The committee also calls for an initiative to be set up in which a proper database is created that allows the tracking of objects that remain in The Netherlands and those which have been requested back. The Dutch Minister has yet to comment on the council but due to previous attempts of restitution made by the Dutch government, it is expected that the initiative will receive their support. One of the objects that has been suggested for return is a 70-carat diamond that belonged to the Sultan of Banjarmasin currently on display in the Rijksmuseum. It was stolen by Dutch troops in 1859 after Banjarmasin’s land in modern-day Indonesia was overtaken.  

Anonymous, The Banjarmasin Diamond, 1875, 2.186cm x w 1.737cm x h 1.386cm, image courtesy of the Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam

The movement of restitution throughout Europe was stoked in 2018 by French President Emmanuel Macron, when he vowed to return twenty-six artworks looted from Benin in 1892 by French colonial forces. The bill, which has recently been proposed, has been praised by many yet some worry that France will attempt to cover rather than acknowledge their colonial past. Additionally, the wording of the new bill has been questioned, the African objects are deemed as ‘gifts’ to Africa, implying they are France’s to give away.

Sossa Dede, Statues of the Royal Palace of Abomey, date unknown, wooden, image courtesy of the Musee du Quai

Bibliography:

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Daniel Boffey, ‘’Dutch museums vow to return art looted by colonialists,’’ The Guardian, October 8, 2020 https://www.theguardian.com/world/2020/oct/08/dutch-museums-vow-to-return-art-looted-by-colonialists#:~:text=Thousands%20of%20pieces%20of%20art,and%20rectification%20of%20these%20injustices%E2%80%9D.

Farah Nayeri, ‘’To Protest Colonialism, He Takes Artifacts From Museums,’’ The New York Times, September 30, 2020 https://www.nytimes.com/2020/09/21/arts/design/france-museum-quai-branly.html#:~:text=Mwazulu%20Diyabanza%20will%20appear%20in,will%20be%20on%20trial%2C%20too.

Naomi Rea, ‘’After a Year of Inaction France Commits to Returning 26 Looted Artifacts to Benin by 2021,’’ Art Net News, December 17, 2019 https://news.artnet.com/art-world/france-restitution-26-benin-1735425#:~:text=France%20says%20it%20will%20return,African%20heritage%20in%20French%20museums.

Rajvi Desai, ‘’Decolonizing Museums,’’ The Swaddle, October 9, 2020 https://theswaddle.com/dutch-museums-promise-to-return-100000-items-looted-from-former-colonies/

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