NEPAL – A centuries-old Buddha statue stolen from a Nepali temple has been reinstalled in its original location, one of several artefacts returned from foreign museums and collectors in recent years.
The statue, dating to the 13th century, was carried in a palanquin back to its pagoda-style temple in the capital, Kathmandu, to the sound of traditional music on Friday.
“I feel so happy—we all do. Our god is coming back,” temple-goer Sunkesari Shakya, 67, told the AFP news agency, recalling the day the statue was stolen and the “havoc” it caused in the community.
In a ceremony attended by a visiting United States envoy, the statue—returned from New York in 2022—was placed back on its original stone plinth. The event coincided with the festival of Buddha Jayanti, marking the birth of the founder of Buddhism. A replica that locals had been worshipping was moved to another area of the temple.
The statue was taken from the temple in the 1980s and later surfaced at Tibet House US, a cultural centre in New York, where it had been gifted by an unknown monk, according to Nepal’s Department of Archaeology.
Sergio Gor, Washington’s special envoy to South and Central Asia, told AFP: “One of the things we are focusing on is bringing back some of these incredible artefacts that, decades ago, ended up in the wrong hands. We are trying to right a wrong from the past.” Gor was on a three-day visit to Nepal.
Many people in the Himalayan nation of 30 million are deeply religious, and the country’s Hindu and Buddhist temples, as well as heritage sites, are an integral part of everyday life. However, many sites are now bereft of centuries-old sculptures, paintings, ornamental windows, and even doors, often stolen after the country opened up to the outside world in the 1950s.
Many pieces were taken with the help of corrupt officials to supply art markets in the United States, Europe, and elsewhere, although their export remains illegal.
About 200 artefacts have been returned to Nepal, according to the Department of Archaeology, including wood and stone carvings, paintings, scriptures, and idols of gods and goddesses. At least 41 artefacts have been placed back in their original locations.
“This is very important. Our statues are not just objects of art but part of a living heritage,” conservation expert Rabindra Puri told AFP.
Puri said there is growing momentum to return stolen artefacts. More than 400 are officially listed as missing, but experts estimate the actual number to be in the thousands. Authorities are specifically seeking the return of more artefacts from the United States, France, Germany, and the United Kingdom. (Aljazeera)
