Spotlight
Return of archaeological cultural property to Egypt
On Friday 23 August 2024 three archaeological objects were officially returned to Egypt. His Excellency Hatem Elsayed Mohamed Kamaleldin, the Egyptian ambassador to the Netherlands, received the cultural objects from Laurens Schouten, chief inspector cultural heritage at the Information and Heritage Inspectorate, and Maurice Stevens, portfolio manager for art and antiques-related crime at the National Police. Dewi van de Weerd, ambassador for international cultural cooperation Ministry of Foreign Affairs, was present.
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Return to Ukraine of eight archaeological objects
His Excellency Anatolii Solovei, Minister-counsellor from the Embassy of Ukraine to the Netherlands, has received at March 20, 2024 from Alfred Roos, director of the Information and Heritage Inspectorate of the Ministry of Education, Culture and Science, eight archaeological objects. Customs intercepted the objects on their arrival in the Netherlands. The Heritage and Information Inspectorate worked with experts to investigate the objects’ provenance. The possessor of the objects decided to waive any claim to them, as they were legally protected cultural heritage of Ukraine and proved to be unlawfully exported.
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Cultural artefact returned to Peru
A Peruvian graveclothes deposited in a drop box for objects covered by the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES) has been returned to Peru. At September 15, 2019 Donné Slangen, Director-General for Nature and Fisheries at the Ministry of Agriculture, Nature and Food Quality (LNV), handed over the graveclothes to Marisol Agüero Colunga, the Peruvian Ambassador to the Netherlands. The graveclothes, which consists of fragments of cloth and rope, came to the Ministry in an unusual way.
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Visit Inspectorate for Cultural Heritage from Kosovo
Colleagues from the Inspectorate for Cultural Heritage in Pristina, Kosovo, visited the Information and Heritage Inspectorate of the Netherlands from 12-14 December 2022. The Inspectorate for Cultural Heritage was established only in 2018 and the Kosovo colleagues are looking for inspiration in several countries, including the Netherlands, for further positioning their institute.
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Maritime Observatory monitors important underwater heritage sites
The Information and Heritage Inspectorate and Cultural Heritage Agency of the Netherlands (RCE), both part of the Ministry of Education, Culture and Science, have contracted the Maritime Observatory to monitor important underwater maritime heritage sites in the Waddenzee or Dutch territorial North Sea.
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The Netherlands returns an Ife terracotta head to Nigeria
A unique and rare terracotta head from Ife area in Nigeria was intercepted by Dutch Customs and is returned by the Dutch authorities to Nigeria. The Ife terracotta head is the first formal return of the Netherlands to a State Party to the 1970 UNESCO Convention that sees to the fight against trafficking of cultural goods.
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