Nationaal Museum van Wereldculturen
The
Structure and collections
The Dutch National Museum of World Cultures (NMVW) was founded in 2014 by a merger of the
The NMVW was created in the context of public discussions in the Netherlands, as well as in other European countries, about the
According to an article about the NMVW, published in the
In a collaboration with the Rijksmuseum in Amsterdam and the Expertise Centre for the Restitution of Cultural Goods and the Second World War at the National Institute for War, Holocaust and Genocide Studies (NIOD),[5] the NMVW is focused on Indonesia – with projects to consolidate research into colonial-era military expeditions and trading-house networks.[3]
Repatriation of cultural heritage
In March 2020, the Dutch culture minister returned a gold-inlaid kris – a large dagger – to the Indonesian ambassador in The Hague, on the basis of provenance research conducted by the museum. It belonged to Prince Diponegoro, a Javanese rebel leader and Indonesian hero who waged a five-year war against Dutch colonial rule from 1825 to 1830. Some of his belongings, including a saddle and a spear, were repatriated to Indonesia in the 1970s.[3]
In January 2021, the Dutch government approved a central mechanism for the repatriation of colonial heritage. Upon the recommendations of an advisory commission, it announced to return any objects in the national collections found to have been illegally taken from former Dutch colonies. To this end, a research group of nine museums and Amsterdam’s Vrije Universiteit are said to launch a €4.5m project in June 2021 in order to develop practical guidance for Dutch museums on colonial collections.[6]
"We will examine the diverse routes that objects took to enter museums—were they sold under duress or looted in times of war, traded or exchanged or given as gifts, and if so, was this in a colonial context? - We will also look at how to jointly decide on the future of an object and whether there are various modes of return that are possible. And, finally, this is about reconciliation—how do modes of return or restitution help us to reconcile with the past?”
— Wayne Modest, National Museum of World Cultures, The Netherlands
See also
Sources
This article incorporates text from a free content work. Licensed under CC BY-SA 3.0 IGO (license statement/permission). Text taken from The Netherlands: Museums confront the country’s colonial past, Hickley, Catherine, UNESCO. UNESCO Courier, no 3, 2020.
References
- ^ Nationaal Museum van Wereldculturen. "NMVW - Collections". collectie.wereldculturen.nl. Retrieved 2021-04-19.
- ^ Nationaal Museum van Wereldculturen. "NMVW - About". collectie.wereldculturen.nl. Retrieved 2021-04-19.
- ^ a b c d Hickley, Catherine (2020-10-08). "The Netherlands: Museums confront the country's colonial past". UNESCO. Retrieved 2021-04-19.
- ^ UNESCO (2020-11-05). "The UNESCO Courier, October – December 2020". UNESCO. Retrieved 2021-04-19.
- ^ Institute for War, Holocaust and Genocide Studies (NIOD) (2012-07-04). "About NIOD". www.niod.nl. Retrieved 2021-04-19.
- ^ Hickley, Catherine (2021-03-10). "Forging ahead with historic restitution plans, Dutch museums will launch €4.5m project to develop a practical guide on colonial collections". www.theartnewspaper.com. Retrieved 2021-04-20.
Further reading
- van Beurden, Jos (2017). Treasures in trusted hands. Negotiating the future of colonial cultural objects. Sidestone Press Dissertations. ISBN 9789088904394.
- UNESCO Courier 2020/no 3. 50 years of the fight against the illicit trafficking of cultural goods.
External links
- Webpage of the National Museum of World Cultures in the Netherlands (in English)
- Webpage of the Museumovermensen.nl (transl. "Museum about people"). (in Dutch)
- Webpage of the AfrikaMuseum.nl (in English)