A discussion was held on the 2nd July at the Presidential Secretariat between Dr. Nandika Sanath Kumanayake, Secretary to the President and Her Excellency Bonnie Horbach, the Ambassador of the Netherlands to Sri Lanka.
The talks focused on the possible return to Sri Lanka of ancient artifacts and manuscripts currently in the possession of the Netherlands.
Ambassador Bonnie Horbach expressed her gratitude for the cooperation extended by the Government of Sri Lanka in this endeavour. She also remarked that this initiative presents a significant opportunity to further strengthen the cultural ties between the two countries.
“President Secretary and the Netherlands Ambassador meet”
The government of the Netherlands has adopted a policy position that colonial-era artifacts should be returned to their countries of origin as part of efforts to strengthen cooperation with formerly colonised nations. In line with this, they have initiated a research programme as a first step towards the restitution of such cultural objects. An agreement has been reached with Sri Lankan authorities to conduct joint research on colonial-era artifacts currently held in the Netherlands.
As an initial step, it is expected that researchers from both countries will conduct studies on the collection of these ancient manuscripts held in the Netherlands, under the leadership of Sri Lanka’s Department of National Archives.
The initiative aims to deepen understanding of Sri Lanka’s colonial-era knowledge heritage while contributing to global academic discussions on the provenance and value of colonial collections.
Senior Additional Secretary to the President Roshan Gamange and Chryshane Mendis, Cultural Affairs Advisor to the Netherlands Ambassador, also attended the meeting.
This was released by the Presidents Media Division
Sri Lankan authorities welcome research grant
Public collections in the Netherlands contain many objects from a colonial context that may have been looted or otherwise taken away against the will or without the knowledge of local populations.
As part of the restitution of cultural artifacts, the Dutch government initiated a joint research program. The Dutch Research Council (NWO) programme “Research into Collections with a Colonial Context” aims to contribute to redressing injustice and strengthening cooperation between the Netherlands and countries of origin around these collections. Among the 11 awarded research projects, we are happy to announce that the Department of National Archives of Sri Lanka has successfully secured this competitive grant of EUR 384,248 under the title “Whose Knowledge, Whose Values?
This programme aims to redress injustice and strengthen trust and cooperation with Sri Lanka and the Netherlands on an equal footing, where researchers from both countries, headed by the Department of National Archives of Sri Lanka will from 2025-2029, engage in conducting research into palm leaf manuscript collections in the Netherlands of Sri Lankan origin with a view to restitution.
“The Netherlands sees this as an important opportunity in strengthening the cultural ties between the two countries,” said the Dutch Ambassador today during her meeting with the Secretary to the President. She further added that “Knowledge sharing and knowledge co-creation as equal partners are some of the key underlining aspects of this collaboration” and that she is pleased that this project was granted approval by the Cabinet of Ministers this week.
This is one of two grant received to Sri Lanka under the same research programme, the other being to the University of Colombo.
