Netherlands returns 1,500 historical artifacts to Indonesia

via Jakarta Post, 07 January 2020: The return of the objects from the Nusantara Museum was reported four years ago.

The Dutch government has returned 1,500 historical artifacts to Indonesia, four years after an agreement was made with the Education and Culture Ministry.

“Basically, there are 1,500 [objects] that used to be held in the Nusantara Museum in Delft, Netherlands, which were returned to Indonesia through the national museum,” Education and Culture Ministry culture director-general Hilman Farid said at a press conference at the National Museum in Central Jakarta as quoted by tempo.co.

The 100-year-old Nusantara Museum was the only museum in the Netherlands dedicated specifically to art and cultural objects from Indonesia, a former Dutch colony, and it closed its doors in 2013 due to financial difficulties.

The museum had initially offered to hand over around 12,000 artifacts to Indonesia, but the culture director-general opted to accept a selection of 1,500 objects instead.

Source: Netherlands returns 1,500 historical artifacts to Indonesia – National – The Jakarta Post

See also:

• For the First Time in Its History, the Netherlands Is Returning an Enormous Trove of Artifacts to Its Former Colonial Territory of Indonesia | 08 Jan 2020