Returning the Gods to the People: Heritage Restitution in Nepal

Since late 2021, a new development has been taking place in Nepal. Like many governments around the world, Nepalese authorities are also fully invested asking for return of their looted art held foreign collections. Yet policy is no longer to keep these country’s main museums, but rather bring them back communities origin, where they can take up role as “living Gods”. With this move – which prioritizes intangible heritage values over tangible unique process that allows reflection on what restitution stolen objects could be all about. In way case Nepal demonstrates trafficking and its placement museums abroad, well “typical” source countries, strongly influenced by Western concepts conservation, often ignoring local heritage.