The Process of Repatriation

Marking a historic moment, this long overdue return of artefacts is the first time that looted heritage has been repatriated to Sri Lanka. Since the 1960s, the Sri Lankan government and the Colombo National Museum have been making repeated formal requests for the repatriation of several artefacts from several countries, including the six that were eventually returned. It is important to recognize that repatriation is a process that is constrained by a host of legal, political and practical concerns and by existing global structures of power. As a result of these constraints, the process of repatriation tends to be lengthy and laborious. This section aims to provide a detailed account of the repatriation process of the six objects returned to Sri Lanka from the Rjiksmuseum, Amsterdam.

Repatriation is –the return of artefacts in 2023 was the result of a long process that involved repeated formal requests made by the Sri Lankan government since the 1960s for the repatriation of several artefacts, including the six that were returned, and the provenance research[i] on looted artefacts that began in 2019.