Over 400 Bornean ethnographic artifacts in Holland to come home soon

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One of the imposing buildings at the present-day Sarawak Museum. (File Photo)

KUCHING: More than 400 Bornean ethnographic artifacts will be returned to Sarawak Museum from a museum in the City of Delft in the Netherlands.

The artifacts were symbolically handed over by Delft deputy mayor Ferrie Forster and director of Heritage Delft Janelle Moerman to Minister of Tourism, Arts, Culture, Youth and Sports Datuk Abdul Karim Hamzah and director of Sarawak Museum Department Ipoi Datan held at Prinsehof Museum in Delft recently.

“The return complements the Sarawak Museum’s own collection and it augurs well to assist in achieving its vision of becoming the ‘Global Centre of Bornean Heritage by 2030’.The Sarawak government is keen to ensure that such artifacts that originated from Borneo would be returned to its original abode,” said Abdul Karim at the handing-over ceremony through Sarawak Museum’s press statement received here yesterday.

The statement also said that in early next year after the artifacts have arrived in Sarawak, an exhibition will be set up at the Textile Museum in Kuching  to showcase a selection of Nusatara artifacts to the public.

It also stated that a special edition booklet on the Sarawak Museum’s collection would be published along side the exhibition.

For both the exhibition and booklet, Abdul Karim has extended his gratitude to the Dutch Embassy in Malaysia for their support and helpful sponsorship. He also extended an invitation to the City of Delft to attend the opening of the exhibition in Sarawak early next year.

He also offered the City of Delft the opportunity to collaborate with Sarawak Museum to co-organise any events and activities such as seminars or exhibitions to coincide with Visit Sarawak Year.