Nepal celebrates return of 13th century Buddha statue stolen from New York | Religious Matters

The Himalayan nation is returning a centuries-old idol, stolen in the 1980s, to its original temple in Kathmandu.

A centuries-old Buddha statue that was stolen from a Nepali temple has been returned to its original location, one of several artefacts recovered from foreign museums and collectors in recent years.

The statue, which dates back to the 13th century, was carried in a palanquin back to its pagoda temple in the capital Kathmandu, to the sound of traditional music on Friday.

“I feel very happy, we all do. Our God is back,” temple goer Sunkesari Shakya, 67, told AFP, recalling the day the statue was stolen, causing “chaos” in the community.

At a ceremony attended by a United States delegation, the statue, which arrived from New York in 2022, was placed back on its original stone. The event coincided with the Buddha Jayanti festival, marking the birth of the founder of Buddhism.

The image that the local people worshiped instead was moved to another area of ​​the temple.

The statue was taken from the temple in the 1980s and later turned up at Tibet House US, a cultural center in New York, where it was gifted by an unknown monk, according to the Department of Archeology in Nepal.

Sergio Gor, Washington’s special representative for South and Central Asia, told AFP, “One of the things we are focusing on is to be able to bring back some of these wonderful things that many years ago fell into the wrong hands.”

“We are trying to correct the mistakes of the past,” said Gor, who was on a three-day trip to Nepal.

Most of the Himalayan nation of 30 million people are deeply religious, and the country’s Hindu and Buddhist temples, as well as museums, are central to daily life.

But many places are devoid of ancient sculptures, paintings, decorative windows and even doors, which were often stolen when the country was opened to foreigners in the 1950s.

Many of the pieces were taken with the help of corrupt officials to feed the art markets in the US, Europe and elsewhere, although their export is illegal.

About 200 artefacts have been recovered from Nepal, according to the Department of Archaeology, including wood and stone, paintings, texts and images of gods and goddesses. At least 41 items have been preserved in their original locations.

“This is very important. Our statues are not just art but part of living heritage,” conservation expert Rabindra Puri told AFP.

Puri said there is an incentive to return stolen artifacts. More than 400 are officially listed as missing, but experts estimate the actual number to be in the thousands.

Officials are keen to bring back dozens of antiquities from the US, France, Germany and the United Kingdom.