Netherlands to return six Kandyan artefacts looted from SL

A gold and silver Kasthane or sabre, a gold dagger, two wall guns and Lewke Disave’s cannon-all belonging to the Kandyan kingdom 

The Netherlands is handing back hundreds of valuable artefacts it removed from Indonesia and Sri Lanka during the colonial period, including six objects obtained by the Dutch East India Company (VOC) during the siege of the palace of Kandy in 1765.  

The 484 objects are the first the Netherlands is restituting to its former Asian colonies after a 2020 report by an advisory committee urged the government to “unconditionally” return looted cultural artefacts if requested by their countries of origin.  

The six objects to be returned to Sri Lanka are a richly decorated, large-caliber bronze-cast gun known as the cannon of Kandy, which is currently on display at Amsterdam’s Rijks museum, as well as gold and silver ceremonial swords, a Sinhalese knife and two guns.  

Issuing a statement, Ministry of Buddhasasana, Culture and Science stated that six Sri Lankan Kandyan artefacts currently at the Rijks museum in the Netherlands were confirmed to be of Sri Lankan origin.   

“A golden and a silver Kasthane or sabre, a golden knife, two maha thuwakku or wall guns and Lewke Disave’s cannon-all belonging to the Kandyan kingdom, now found in the Rijks museum collection were confirmed to be war booty, obtained by the Dutch East India Company (VOC) during the seige of the palace of Kandy in 1765 when large scale looting of Kandyan objects took place,” it said.  

Following the conclusion of the provenance study, a diplomatic request was made by the Sri Lanka Ministry of Buddhasasana, Culture and Science to return the six objects to Sri Lanka.   Sri Lankan Advisory Committee on the Return of Artefacts has been appointed by the Cabinet to facilitate the return of the six objects.