Adhikari, from Kathmandu, spoke to conservators, activists, journalists and museum curators, and launched a campaign to see the 10th-century statue returned to Nepal. “I wrote dozens of emails to the foreign ministry, archaeology department and the US embassy,” he says. Thousands of centuries-old artifacts have been looted since Nepal opened up to international trade and tourism in the 1950s. “Kathmandu valley was an open museum,” says Rohit Ranjitkar, director of the Kathmandu Valley Preservation Trust. Buoyed up by his success, Adhikari launched the Nepal Heritage Recovery Campaign (NHRC) and, as one of the country’s leading heritage lawyers now, has helped to recover about 30 pieces of art.

Source: The Guardian January 29, 2024 01:44 UTC