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The return of cultural and historical treasures touches on a number of political and cultural issues, and often inspires controversy. As the world is changing, the concept of return is changing as well. The shrinking divisions between a poor South and a rich North, colonizer and colonized, and source countries and art and antique market countries impact our thinking about return. How do Dutch heritage institutions deal with this new reality, when the return of their objects or collections comes under discussion? That is the central question in this critical book.

In The Return of Cultural and Historical Treasures: The Case of the Netherlands, Jos van Beurden researches cases in which the Dutch state and Dutch heritage institutions have been handing over cultural and historical treasures that were acquired in colonial times and more recently. He investigates the dynamics of their return practice and gives his analysis extra depth by including cases in which return has not materialized. The most remarkable of these is that of a keris or traditional sword of Indonesia’s national hero Diponegoro. Where is it? In addition to library study, many heritage directors and experts have been interviewed. That makes The Return of Cultural and Historical Treasures: The Case of the Netherlands an indispensable addition to the literature about return by the Netherlands of Nazi-spoliated art and human remains.

Jos van Beurden is a Dutch research journalist who has published extensively on the protection and endangerment of cultural and historical treasures. For the Tropenmuseum he has written Goden Graven en Grenzen: Over kunstroof uit Afrika, Azië en Latijns Amerika (KIT Publishers 2001).

Kit Publishers  Price €25

ISBN	9789460221842
Language	English
Binding	Paperback
Pages	88 pages
Published	2012