Discussions over whether Britain should return the Kohinoor diamond—one of the most potent tangible symbols of its colonial plunder of India—have repeatedly begun and gone nowhere. Even the question of return is fraught: if Britain were to give it back, who would claim it? India, where the diamond was mined in Golconda? Pakistan, since it passed to Queen Victoria after the Second Anglo-Sikh War of 1849, when the Sikh empire’s capital was Lahore? Or Afghanistan, which possessed it earlier under Ahmad Shah Durrani?
While Britain has shown little inclination to even seriously consider restitution of the Kohinoor or other cultural artefacts taken from India, several European countries have begun doing so, with the Netherlands emerging at the forefront.
Returning colonial-era artefacts
Most recently, the Dutch government agreed to return thousands of fossils from the world-renowned Dubois Collection to Indonesia. Excavated in the late 19th century by Dutch anatomist and geologist Eugène Dubois, when Indonesia was under Dutch colonial rule, the fossils are regarded as the first evidence of Homo erectus, an ancestor of Homo sapiens.
“There were doubts among some scientists about whether restituting the Dubois Collection was a good idea, given that it is a scientific collection,” said Dewi van de Weerd, Ambassador for International Cultural Cooperation of the Kingdom of the Netherlands, during a discussion titled ‘From Objects to Relations: Dutch Views on Heritage Cooperation’ at the Humayun Tomb Museum in Delhi on Tuesday. “But it can still be researched, only that you would have to travel to Indonesia, where the collection belongs.”
Earlier, the Netherlands returned six colonial artefacts to Sri Lanka, including a cannon, two guns and a ceremonial sword. It has also announced plans to return a 3,500-year-old sculpted stone head to Egypt, and in 2020, returned a 600-year-old artefact to Nigeria that had been smuggled out in 2019.
The restitution challenges
While acknowledgment is important, the process of restitution is far from straightforward. Martine Gosselink, general director of the Mauritshuis museum in The Hague, who has been involved in restitution, said it is often difficult to determine to whom an artefact should be returned. “Sometimes collections are claimed by specific groups, while restitution frameworks tend to operate at a state-to-state level,” she said.
Practical challenges also remain. In some cases, countries to which artefacts are to be returned lack the necessary infrastructure. Belgium, for instance, holds a large number of artefacts from Congo, which has limited storage facilities and cultural institutions.
The restitution debate has also reopened questions closer to home. In the Netherlands, it has revived discussions around the return of Dutch Golden Age paintings taken to France by Napoleon’s army. Of the nearly 200 paintings removed, about 130 were returned, while around 70 remain in France.
“During an exhibition two years ago, a political party argued that the remaining 70 paintings should return,” Gosselink said. “The logic was that if the Netherlands is willing to return colonial artefacts so readily, these paintings should also come back. I asked: Do we miss those 70 paintings? Do we have empty museums? Are we hurt by them being in France? It isn’t painful in any way. So why bring them back when they can serve as ambassadors of Dutch art?”
Restitution also raises questions, such as whether the climate or infrastructure of the receiving country is suitable for preserving the artefacts. “This is nothing but neo-colonialism by the Western world on how one should preserve artefacts,” said Robert van Langh, director of the Drents Museum.
The Dutch policy has shown results. “It is bringing us closer to each other,” van de Weerd said.
Germany has also accelerated restitution, returning artefacts to Tanzania, Namibia, Cameroon, and Ethiopia. Last year, France repatriated three skulls of Indigenous warriors to Madagascar, while Belgium returned a gold-capped tooth belonging to Patrice Lumumba, the slain Congolese independence hero. Finland, too, returned a 17th-century royal stool to Benin.
This leaves us with Britain.
