The Indonesian government is reclaiming eight works of art and natural science collections from the Netherlands. That writes Trouw, who has a list that was sent to the Ministry of Education, Culture and Science in July. Indonesia considers the objects looted and wants them back.

According to Trouw, this includes the complete Dubois collection, which is on display at the Naturalis Museum in Leiden. It consists of about 40,000 fossils unearthed in Indonesia by the Dutch researcher Eugène Dubois in the late 19th century. The list would also include the pinnacle of this collection, the world-famous Javanese man’s skull, believed to be an important link in human evolution.

The Indonesian government also wants the so-called Lombok treasure back. This is a large collection of precious stones, gold and silver jewelry, which is now managed by the National Museum of Ethnology in Leiden.

“Museums not yet informed”

The ministry confirmed in the newspaper that Indonesia’s request was sent to Secretary of State Uslu in July. According to the ministry, the list has not yet been shared with the museums concerned to avoid speculation. A previously announced independent committee led by Lilian Gonçalves will examine these types of requests.

A spokeswoman for Naturalis tells Trouw that she was actually unaware of the list, although she says the museum anticipated that request would come. Naturalis says it is collaborating on an investigation of the collection, but is surprised that Indonesia is lumping natural history objects and art treasures together.

Director Van Bommel of the National Museum of World Cultures says it is “nice that there is now a formal request from Indonesia”. According to Trouw, the museum manages four of the eight objects and collections on the list and has previously researched their provenance.