15 May 2025
The Provenance Research Scheme by the Colonial Collections Consortium contributes to ten museums that will invastigate the provenance history of their (sub) collection or a specific object for which there are indications that it was acquired in a colonial context. The Provenance Research Scheme makes a total of €500.000 available for such research. For the first round of applications, €243.317 has now been awarded. The second and final round of applications closes on 15 July 2025.
Awarded projects
Read more about the awarded project of the first round below.
Keramiekmuseum het Princessehof, Leeuwarden (€30.000)
This provenance research focuses on the non-ceramic Indonesia collection “Indische Kunst”, which was collected by Nanne Ottema, the founder of the Ceramics Museum.
Kunstmuseum Den Haag (€30.000)
Kunstmuseum Den Haag is conducting research into the eighteenth-century court silver of the Sultan of Ternate from the precious metal collection and two nineteenth-century Indonesian gongs from the music collection.
Missiemuseum Steyl (€27.980)
This provenance research that will be carried out revolves around an honorary robe with Baxian motifs from Yanggu (China) that was brought by missionaries in 1901 under unclear circumstances.
Museon-Omniversum, Den Haag (€7.610)
The Museon-Omniversum is investigating the kwakwabangi, a unique bench from Suriname from around 1850. It was an important symbol of one of the Du companies and is, as far as we know, the only example in the world.
Museum de Fundatie, Zwolle (€30.000)
This museum has a Benin Bronze in its collection. It was probably stolen from the Kingdom of Benin in 1897. It has been part of the collection since 1937 through founder Dirk Hannema.
Museum Prinsenhof Delft (€30.000)
The museum will examine twelve objects from the Nusantara collection to shed light on the colonial history of Delft and the story of the ‘Indische instelling’.
Museum van Bommel van Dam, Venlo (€29.980)
The provenance research focuses on the Ethnographica sub-collection, where seven objects are currently linked to the Senufo (West Africa).
Museum Vrolik, Amsterdam (€15.791)
The provenance research will be conducted in collaboration with SAHRA and will focus on the acquisition of human and ancestral remains originating from South Africa. The museum would like to know to which specific communities these human and ancestral remains belong.
Stichting Budaya Kita (€24.000)
Stichting Budaya Kita will investigate ancestral remains from the Aru Islands, an archipelago within the Moluccas. The ancestral remains are in the collections of Museum Vrolik and Wereldmuseum.
Universiteitsmuseum Utrecht (€17.956)
This provenance research focuses on seven objects from the Veterinary Medicine collection to map the colonial history between the Utrecht faculty and the Nederlandsch-Indische Veeartsenijschool (Dutch East Indies Veterinary School).
Call
Do you work at a Dutch heritage institution, such as a museum, university, archive or library, that manages colonial collections or objects and would you like to map out the provenance history? The Consortium Colonial Collections can support your research project through the Provenance Research Scheme. Proposals can be submitted until 15 July 2025 for contributions of at least €5.000 and a maximum of €30.000. You can find all information about the Provenance Research Scheme here. Please note that this information is only available in Dutch.
Online Consultations
In May, we will organise three online consultation hours to explain the scheme and the requirements step by step. You can then also ask your questions to the consortium colleagues. The online consultations will take place in Dutch via MS Teams on:
- Tuesday 20 May 2025, 3pm-4pm
- Wednesday 21 May 2025, 10am-11am
- Thursday 22 May, 3pm-4pm
Click on the button below to sign up.
Do you work at a Dutch heritage institution, such as a museum, university, archive or library, that manages colonial collections or objects and would you like to map out the provenance history? The Consortium Colonial Collections can support your research project through the Provenance Research Scheme. In May, we will organise three online consultation hours to explain the scheme and the requirements step by step. You can then also ask your questions to the consortium colleagues.
The online consultations will take place in Dutch via MS Teams on:
- Tuesday 20 May 2025, 3pm-4pm
- Wednesday 21 May 2025, 10am-11am
- Thursday 22 May, 3pm-4pm
There are a maximum of 15 spots per consultation hour. Sign up to receive the MS Teams link!
Date: 15 March – 21 September 2025
Location: University Museum Groningen
Address: Oude Kijk in ’t Jatstraat 7a, 9712 EA, Groningen
Organisation: the exhibition is part of the international research project Pressing Matter: Ownership, Value, and the Question of Colonial Heritage in Museums and was curated by researchers from Amsterdam, Groningen, and Leiden.
How did orangutans from Borneo end up on a dissection table in the Netherlands? What happened to the elephants studied by scientists? How did they gain access to human remains from the Netherlands and its colonies? And what impact did their work have on the development of racial science?
The University Museum Groningen presents Entangled Stories: Science and Colonialism in the Collection of Petrus Camper, an exhibition exploring the colonial history of the university’s collection. At its core is the legacy of scientist Petrus Camper (1722–1789), whose collection has been preserved at the University of Groningen for over 200 years.
Camper was a man of contradictions: he opposed slavery, yet he collected human remains from the colonies without consent. For years, Petrus Camper was honored through exhibitions (including at the University Museum) and in the city of Groningen. However, with today’s understanding, critical questions must be asked about how Camper and other scientists obtained human and animal specimens. The exhibition highlights how Camper’s legacy is intertwined with colonial structures and the development of scientific racism. How should museums address this history?
Entangled Stories invites visitors to take a fresh look at the history of science and to reflect on the future of academic heritage.
The exhibition, on display from 15 March until 21 September 2025, is part of the international research project Pressing Matter: Ownership, Value, and the Question of Colonial Heritage in Museums and was curated by researchers from Amsterdam, Groningen, and Leiden. For more information about Pressing Matter, please visit www.pressingmatter.nl
Book presentation: Legacies of colonialism in museum collectionsDate: Thursday 15 May 2025
Tim: 3.30 – 5.00 PM (CET)
Location: KITLV, Herta Mohr building, room 1.30
Address: Witte Singel 27A, 2311 BG, Leiden
Organisation: Koninklijk Nederlands Instituut voor Taal-, Land- en Volkenkunde (KITLV) / Royal Netherlands Institute of Southeast Asian and Caribbean Studies
Language: English
In ‘Legacies of colonialism in museum collections: The (un)making of Indonesian Islam in the Netherlands’ Mirjam Shatanawi tells the untold story of Indonesian Islam in museums. Often overshadowed by Hindu-Buddhist art, Indonesian Islamic heritage rarely receives the attention it deserves in museum collections and exhibitions.
This book unravels the historical silences rooted in Dutch colonial rule that have marginalized Indonesian Islamic material culture. Delving into the colonial archives, it traces the journey of Indonesian objects in Dutch museums, exploring their original meanings and their re-appropriation during instances of collecting, classification, interpretation and public display. The analysis focuses on the long-term effects in the present, in particular in relation to the decolonisation of museums.
What are the structural patterns inherited from colonialism that result in silences today? How can repair happen beyond repatriation and re-interpretation of individual objects? Through this lens, the book addresses the enduring impacts of colonialism and offers pathways for the decolonization of museums today.
Author
Mirjam Shatanawi is a postdoctoral researcher at KITLV, where she conducts research on the provenance and makings of the institute’s collection of manuscripts and books from Indonesia. She is also a Senior Lecturer of Heritage Theory at the Reinwardt Academy (Amsterdam University of the Arts).
Discussants
Susie Protschky is Professor of Global Political History at VU University. She is specialised in modern Dutch colonialism, Indonesian history, and the history of photography.
Adieyatna Fajri is a PhD Candidate at NIOD Institute for War, Holocaust, and Genocide Studies and Groningen Institute of Archaeology, University of Groningen.
Theo Frids Hubarat is a Lecturer at Parahyangan Catholic University and fellow at NIAS.
Moderator
Marieke Bloembergen is Professor of Heritage and Postcolonial Studies in Indonesian History at the Institute for History and the KITLV. Her research interests concern the political dynamics of cultural knowledge production in colonial and post-colonial Indonesia.
25 april 2025
The call for the knowledge exchange programme for young museum professionals ‘Sharing Stories on Contested Histories’ is now open for applications. The programme includes online sessions across five weeks and a one-week onsite programme in the Netherlands from 29 October to 5 November 2025. The deadline to apply is 26 May 2025.
Theme
How are we – museum professionals around the world – dealing with colonial collections? How do we critically engage with the museum’s own histories and reflect on their role in society in the face of these challenges? How can we handle collections created and collected during colonial times in more caring and ethical ways? How do we navigate and react to contestations over certain histories and heritage?
This knowledge exchange programme brings together a group of young professionals from around the world working in museums or collection-managing organisations to reflect on these questions and to exchange knowledge and experiences regarding their working practices.
About the organizers
Sharing Stories on Contested Histories is a project of the International Heritage Cooperation programme of the Cultural Heritage Agency of the Netherlands (RCE), executed together with the Reinwardt Academy (Amsterdam University of the Arts). With different editions in 2018, 2019, 2021, 2022, 2023 and 2024, Sharing Stories on Contested Histories approaches challenges in the field of cultural heritage that are widely shared by bringing together professionals from different countries to exchange perspectives and develop new knowledge and practices together. These challenges are not confined within national borders. We believe that it is only by joining forces that we can fully benefit from the potential of cultural heritage to address current challenges. Sharing Stories on Contested Histories aims to contribute to an international dialogue on the practices involved in navigating complex histories and their legacies today, and to strengthen the international heritage community.
24 April 2025
This fellowship is intended for researchers from formerly colonised countries – including heritage practitioners, historians, archaeologists, social scientists, artists, journalists, and cultural activists – with an interest in (lost) collections or objects from those regions that are currently held in the Netherlands. We look forward to welcoming Panggah Ardiyansyah, Ganga Dissanayaka, and Leandro Matthews Cascon this September.
In September, the last three fellows of the NIAS-NIOD-KITLV Moving Objects, Mobilising Culture in the Context of (De)colonisation start their research projects. The fellowship enables researchers and heritage professionals from former colonized countries to conduct five months of research into ‘colonial collections’: objects and collections from those countries that arrived in the Netherlands in a context of colonialism. NIOD is involved in the fellowships as partner of the Colonial Collections Consortium.
Below, you can find more information about the fellows and their research projects.
Panggah Ardiyansyah – Evocative Fragments: Archaeological Knowledge Production for Sendang Duwur and Its Dispersed Objects
Panggah Ardiyansyah’s research investigates the production of knowledge surrounding Sendang Duwur, a 16th-century Islamic complex in East Java, Indonesia. His project contributes to emerging scholarship on heritage politics, especially in relation to identity formation, inclusion/exclusion, and restitution frameworks. He will trace the networks of historical figures involved in the circulation of Sendang Duwur manuscripts, reconstruct the interventions by the Dutch East Indies’ Archaeological Service at the site in the early 20th century, and map the movements of manuscripts and artefacts associated with it.
Panggah Ardiyansyah would have started his project in February 2025, but the start date has been rescheduled to September 2025
Ganga Dissanayaka – Tracing Object Biographies: Unveiling the Historical, Political, and Artistic Legacies of Sri Lankan Caskets and Jewellery in Dutch Collections
This research project explores how Sri Lankan artefacts – particularly caskets, jewellery, and statues – held in Dutch museums reflect complex narratives of cultural mobility, colonial entanglement, and historical memory. Centred on the methodology of ‘object biography’, the research treats artefacts as dynamic entities with evolving meanings. By tracing their journeys from creation and use in Sri Lanka to their current institutional contexts, Dissanayaka analyses how their stories intertwine with political, religious, artistic, and social histories. The project also addresses urgent questions around provenance, museum ethics, restitution, and postcolonial identity.
Leandro Matthews Cascon – Cultivating Objects
Cascon’s research, Cultivating Objects, explores the connections between Indigenous cassava agriculture in Suriname and related material culture preserved in Dutch colonial museum collections. Focusing on items such as graters, sieves, and fermentation vessels, the study highlights how traditional ecological knowledge is embedded in these tools.
Primarily based on objects in the Wereldmuseum, the project reveals sustainable Indigenous practices that contrast sharply with colonial models of resource extraction. It also considers broader themes such as food security, climate change, and cultural resilience, advocating for greater recognition of biocultural heritage and Indigenous land rights.
By working closely with museum collections, ethnographic sources, and Indigenous collaborators, Cascon’s research challenges dominant institutional narratives and foregrounds material traditions that have persisted despite colonial disruption. The project ultimately aims to offer new perspectives on sustainability and decolonisation.
7 April 2025
The exhibition Unfinished Pasts: return, keep, or …?, opening on 9 May at Wereldmuseum Amsterdam, offers an in-depth exploration of the current debate surrounding collections gathered during the colonial period and the question of restitution. Visitors are invited not only to learn about the provenance of cultural objects but also to reflect on ownership, value, and the ethical implications of a colonial history that continues to resonate in museum collections today.
Wereldmuseum and the restitution debate
Wereldmuseum is one of the institutions actively engaged in the debate around restitution, which has intensified over the past decade. The museum’s founding collection originated in the colonial period, a time when objects were often taken or looted from colonised territories without consultation or consent. Today, the museum is working closely with other museums and universities to address how best to deal with artworks in its collection that carry the weight of this colonial past.
The exhibition is rooted in Pressing Matter: Ownership, Value and the Question of Colonial Heritage in Museums, a major research project that brings together scholars and artists to investigate critical questions: How did these objects from different colonial contexts find their way into European museums? Were they purchased or stolen? What role did missionaries and scientists play? Who owns these objects? What is their value, and how should we engage with a heritage marked by a contested past?
It is a search for clarity that is becoming ever more urgent – particularly as former colonies increasingly call for the return of their cultural heritage.
A multi-layered debate
The exhibition explores the complexity of these questions through thematic sessions, each addressing a different dimension – from objects looted during military expeditions and legal discussions about what constitutes spoils of war or stolen art, to questions about scientific and cultural value and the legacy of cultural erasure. These themes are brought to life through 200 objects from the Wereldmuseum’s collection – objects that may seem ordinary at first glance but hold deep significance in their original cultural contexts.
Unfinished Pasts is an experimental, question-driven exhibition that invites visitors to think along with the museum about the ongoing pursuit of justice, reparation, and reconciliation. A key source of inspiration are the six contemporary international artists and collectives – Pansee Atta, Daniel Aguilar Ruvalcaba, Aram Lee, Zara Julius & Zoé Samudzi, Hande Sever & Gelare Khoshgozaran, Lifepatch – whose critical, creative, and emotional works offer alternative futures for this contested heritage. Their contributions give these complex questions a human face and bring them to life.
Visitors also get an insight into the questions museum staff grapple with on a daily basis. They encounter case studies of provenance research into objects that raise new questions about ownership, value, and the future of colonial collections. Notably, these investigations often lead to more questions than answers.
The exhibition Unfinished Pasts is on view from 9 May 2025 to 3 January 2027 at Wereldmuseum Amsterdam.
Pressing Matter
Pressing Matter is a four-year international research programme on colonial heritage, funded by the Dutch National Research Agenda (NWA) and coordinated by Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam. The project investigates how collections acquired during the colonial period can help us better understand the past and how that past continues to shape the present. It explores questions of ownership and value and the potential these collections hold for contemporary society, both in the Netherlands and the countries of origin.
Date: Friday 11 April 2025
Tim: 1:30 – 4:30 PM CET
Location: Amstelkerk
Address: Amstelveld 10, 1017 JD Amsterdam
Organisation: Colonial Collections Consortium, DutchCulture
Language: Dutch
On Friday 11 April 2025, the Colonial Collections Consortium is organising a public event at the Amstelkerk in Amsterdam around the working visit of the National Museum Commission Suriname to the Netherlands. During this event, you will meet the members of the National Museum Committee Suriname and they will share their findings from the working visit. There will also be a panel discussion with the delegation members, in which attendees can ask questions.
From 7 to 11 April, the National Museum Commission Suriname, chaired by Roseline Daan, will pay a working visit to the Netherlands. This working visit is facilitated by the Consortium Colonial Collections and organised by the Cultural Heritage Agency of the Netherlands in cooperation with DutchCulture. During these five days, the Museum Committee will gain inspiration for their work in Suriname and strengthen relations with Dutch partners.
Participation is free, but we ask you to register.
We hope to see you at the Amstelkerk on 11 April!
The language of the event is Dutch
What is the programme?
- 1:30 Doors open
- 14:00 Opening and presentation on the National Museum Commission Suriname, and its working visit to the Netherlands
- 14:30 Panel discussion with delegation members and questions from attendees
- 15:30 Networking opportunity with drinks and snacks
- 16:30 End
Who are the delegation members?
The Commission consists of experts dedicated to the preservation and promotion of Suriname’s heritage. Members include:
- Roseline Daan – Chair, senior policy advisor at Ministry of Education, Science and Culture of Suriname
- Tanya Sitaram – Secretary, historian
- Rita Tjien Fooh – Member, heritage expert, director of National Archive of Suriname
- Ashvini Gangadin – Member, legal expert
- Daphne Yflaar – Representatie of Directorate of Culture, Head of State Collection Suriname
What does the National Museum Commission Suriname do?
The National Museum Commission Suriname was installed in September 2023 by Minister Henry Ori of Education, Science and Culture of Suriname, with the goal of strengthening the museum infrastructure in Suriname and promoting the handling of indigenous heritage, including the possible return of cultural objects. The Museum Commission plays an important role in the preservation of Suriname’s heritage and actively cooperates with various national and international partners.
Who is this event intended for?
The event is aimed at anyone with an interest in Surinamese heritage, colonial history and cooperation between Surinamese and Dutch museums. We welcome anthropologists, museologists, historians, students, museum staff, heritage professionals and the Surinamese diaspora involved or interested in cultural cooperation between the two countries, among others.
The language of the event is Dutch
Register
13 March 2025
A coalition of Amsterdam based Archives, Museums and Historical institutes* with the generous support of the Insinger Foundation has taken the initiative for a five-year programme that offers three two-month long fellowships per year for curators, archivists and historians in the field of slavery history. The fellowships are open to professionals working on the history of slavery in the Atlantic, the Indian Ocean and the Indonesian archipelago, linked to the Dutch involvement in slave trade and slave labour.
* Allard Pierson Museum/UB, Amsterdam Museum, Black Archives, IISG, NINSEE, Rijksmuseum, Stadsarchief Amsterdam, UvA, Wereldmuseum
Theme
The attention to the Dutch colonial slavery past has increased considerably over the last years. Especially communities that were subject to the contemporary ramifications such as systemic racism pushed for acknowledgement and changes in perspectives and priorities within academic institutions, museums and archives. A missing link is the input and expertise of inhabitants of societies that were colonized and where slavery and other forms of forced labour were rampant. The slavery past has a broad and pervasive impact, both in personal histories and the social structures of these societies. The questions, perspectives, and expertise of young professionals (especially historians, archivists, librarians, and curators) from societies affected by this colonial slavery past and its knock-on effects in the Americas, Africa, and Asia are essential to inform contemporary debates about and dealing with the slavery past. The fellowships aim to support this group of young professionals.
Call
Candidates are asked to write a motivation letter and a plan that includes their preference for one of the institutes in GSHF coalition and a rough idea on how they would like to spend their time in Amsterdam and what they expect from they stay.
What we offer
The fellowship includes free housing and covers travel costs, health insurance, as well as a monthly allowance up to a maximum of 1500 euros. We expect that the institutions to which candidates are affiliated continue to pay their monthly salaries for the duration of the fellowship.
Each year the programme can accommodate three fellows in the Spring (April-May) and three in the Fall (October-November).
Fellows will be based at the International Institute of Social History and – by mutual agreement – will be linked to their counterparts working in one of the Amsterdam Institutions united in the GSHF coalition.
The fellowship is meant to exchange perspectives and views between the fellows and their Amsterdam counterparts related to the history of slavery. The fellows are invited to work with the collections, archives, research or other ongoing projects at one or multiple of the Amsterdam heritage and research institutions. Please take a look at the websites of the partner institutions to explore their collections, archives, research and expertise.
For this round of fellowships, applicants might find it interesting to know that there is the opportunity to collaborate with special upcoming exhibition Justice and Unjustice: Trans-Atlantic Slavery and the Classical Antiquity at the Allard Pierson Museum.
At the end of each fellowship period there will be a public event where fellows and their Amsterdam counterparts reflect on the experiences gained during their stay.
The deadline for the call 2025 (October and November) fellowships is May 1st, 2025.
For more information and a list of the requirements, please click the button below.
19 February 2025
At the request of Nigeria, the Netherlands is returning 113 Benin Bronzes from the Dutch State Collection. This decision was taken by the Minister of Education, Culture and Science Eppo Bruins. In 1897 British soldiers looted these objects from the Kingdom of Benin (now part of modern-day Nigeria) and sold them. They eventually ended up in the Dutch State Collection. The Benin Bronzes are an important record of the history of the Kingdom of Benin and, thus, of great significance to Nigeria. The Bronzes, consisting of plaques, personal ornaments and figures, are currently housed in the collection of Wereldmuseum Leiden. The return of these objects is the result of intensive cooperation between experts and representatives of both countries.
Minister Bruins: “This restitution contributes to redressing a historical injustice that is still being felt today. Cultural heritage is essential for telling and living the history of a country and a community. The Benin Bronzes are indispensable to Nigeria. It is good that they are going back.”
The transfer agreement will be signed in Leiden on 19 February by Mr Bruins and Olugible Holloway, Director-General of the Nigerian National Commission for Museums and Monuments.
DG Holloway: ‘The return from the Netherlands will represent the single largest return of Benin antiquities directly linked to the 1897 British punitive expedition. We thank the Netherlands for their cooperation and hope this will set a good example for other nations of the world in terms of repatriation of lost or looted antiquities.’
The return follows the publication of an advisory report by the Colonial Collections Committee, chaired by Lilian Gonçalves-Ho Kang You. The objects will be returned to the Nigerian government, which will then decide how and where they will be displayed. The Wereldmuseum hopes that the return of the objects will not mark the end of the process, but rather serve as a starting point for further cooperation between museums in Nigeria and the Netherlands.
Return of objects by the municipality of Rotterdam
In addition to the return of 113 objects from the Dutch State Collection, on 19 February the municipality of Rotterdam will also be returning a further six objects that fall under the Benin Bronzes collection. These objects – a bell, three relief plaques, a coconut casing and a staff – were also looted in 1897.
Said Kasmi, a member of the Rotterdam municipal executive: ‘Art and heritage should be where they belong. These objects belong in Nigeria. By returning them, we’re taking an important step towards recognising the past and respecting the value these objects hold for Nigeria.’
Advisory report published by the Colonial Collections Committee
On the basis of a provenance investigation conducted by the Wereldmuseum and the municipality of Rotterdam, the Colonial Collections Committee advised the minister to return these objects in line with the Netherlands’ colonial collections policy. This advisory report resulted from close consultation and collaboration with the Nigerian National Commission for Museums and Monuments. The Committee published the report on its website. This is the fifth time that the Netherlands is returning objects as a direct result of an advisory report by the Committee. The Committee is currently drawing up advisory reports in response to requests submitted by Sri Lanka, India and Indonesia.
