Sri Lanka Reclaims Stolen Artefacts from Dutch Colonial Era

via various sources: Six colonial-era Sri Lankan artefacts, taken by the Dutch over 200 years ago, were repatriated to Sri Lanka from the Netherlands. These artifacts, including a golden and silver kasthãné, a golden knife, two maha thuwakku or wall guns, and Lewke Disave’s cannon, were part of the Rijksmuseum collection in Amsterdam. Stolen during the siege of the Palace of Kandy in 1765 by the Dutch East India Company, these items symbolize the complex history between the Netherlands and Sri Lanka.

Accordingly, six historical objects that are currently on display in the collection of the Rijksmuseum Amsterdam in the Netherlands, including the Lewke’s cannon, a Golden Kasthane, a Silver Kasthane, a Sinhalese Knife and two Guns that were confirmed to belong to Sri Lanka, will be returned to the island in the first week of December, after over 200 years abroad.

The Dutch Ambassador for International Cultural Cooperation Dewi van de Weerd will lead a mission overseeing the handover on behalf of the Netherlands.

The artefacts will be physically returned to Sri Lanka during a two-day event at the Colombo National Museum on 05 and 06 December, which will be open to the public and will comprise activities to educate both, the young and old, on the long shared history of Sri Lanka and the Netherlands.

Source: Sri Lanka to receive stolen colonial-era artefacts in December