Hidden under years of dirt and grime in storage rooms, hundreds of precious religious objects have been rediscovered at a monastery in Nepal’s capital, Kathmandu. Gilded crowns worn by Buddhist priests, halos that once adorned statues of deities and mini stupas gifted by the local community are among the long-lost antiques now on display at Itumbaha, one of the city’s oldest “viharas,” an early form of a Buddhist monastery.
The story of the objects’ rediscovery stretches far beyond the warren of shrines, courtyards and ornately decorated columns that have stood on the site since the 11th century. Until earlier this year, two of the sculptures were more than 7,500 miles away in New York’s Rubin Museum of Art, which specializes in Himalayan art, and the Metropolitan Museum of Art.
Like many of Nepal’s religious sites, Itumbaha is no stranger to the theft and looting of its relics and architecture. Nepalese authorities estimate that up to 80% of the country’s religious artifacts have been stolen and sold on the black market since the 1980s. As museums digitize their collections and make them publicly available online, more claims are being made around the world for pillaged objects to be returned.
Amid growing calls for Western museums to repatriate stolen cultural heritage, the Met announced in 2022 that it was returning a 13th-century wooden temple carving of a “salabhinka,” a semi-divine spirit, to Itumbaha. Earlier that year, the Rubin repatriated two Nepalese wooden carvings — one originating from the monastery, and the other from a nearby temple complex — that its researchers believe to have been looted.
But for Itumbaha’s leaders, the process of recovering these objects was not only about addressing historical injustice. It sparked a dialogue that brought to fruition a long-time dream: a new museum, in the monastery grounds, to research and catalog its more than 500 artifacts. Opened in late July, it currently displays some 150 of the works, spanning six centuries, and tells the history of antiquities looting in Nepal. The rest of the objects remain in storage.
Source: https://www.news8000.com/lifestyle/how-an-11th-century-monastery-reclaim...