Amsterdam’s Rijksmuseum is to return six colonial objects from its collection to Sri Lanka this year, including a looted cannon.
This marks the first time the museum has repatriated colonial objects, which in this case are two swords, two rifles, a dagger, and a cannon belonging to the king of Kandy.
We appreciate the secretary of state’s decision and regard this restitution as a positive step in cooperation with Sri Lanka. The relationship and exchanges of knowledge built up between the two nations in the fields of research and common history constitute a strong foundation for the future.
Taco Dibbits, the Rijksmuseum’s general director
Per a press release from the Rijksmuseum, the cannon is made from bronze, silver and gold, and ornamented with rubies. The barrel is decorated with the symbols of the king of Kandy – a sun, a half moon and a Sri Lankan lion.
The cannon was looted by troops from the Dutch East India Company during the invasion of Kandy in 1765. It was later gifted to William V, Prince of Orange, and became part of the Rijksmuseum collection in 1800.
Working with researchers in countries of origin, the Rijksmuseum started investigating the provenance of the colonial objects in its collection in 2017.
In 2019, a two-year partnership between the Rijksmuseum, the NIOD Institute for War, Holocaust and Genocide Studies, and the National Museum of World Cultures was launched to research the provenance of artefacts.
Museums repatriating looted objects
Institutions across the world are working to return looted objects to their places of origin, including the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York, the Smithsonian, London’s Horniman Museum, and the Vatican Museums.
Museums including the Horniman and the Smithsonian’s National Museum of African Art are repatriating several Benin bronzes to Nigeria, and the Vatican Museums are returning the 2,500-year-old Parthenon marbles to Greece.
Elsewhere, the Smithsonian’s National Museum of Asian Art is displaying 77 looted artefacts from Yemen until they can be returned to the country.
