In 2023, the Government of the Netherlands formally returned six priceless 18th-century Kandyan royal artifacts to Sri Lanka, over 258 years after they were seized by the Dutch East India Company (VOC). Taken as war booty during the 1765 military invasion and sacking of the Royal Palace and Temple of the Tooth in Kandy, the treasures had been held in the Netherlands for centuries, primarily exhibited at the Rijksmuseum in Amsterdam. Following collaborative historical provenance research between Dutch and Sri Lankan scholars that proved the objects were forcibly looted, the formal legal transfer deed was signed on August 28, 2023.
In December 2023, the artifacts returned to Sri Lankan soil and were placed on permanent public display at the National Museum of Colombo. The returned treasures represent the pinnacle of Kandyan-era metallurgy, lapidary art, and firearms craftsmanship. The collection includes the magnificent Lewke’s Cannon (Lewke Disavage Kalathuwakkuwa)—a bronze cannon intricately decorated with gold, silver, rubies, and traditional Sinhalese lion motifs dedicated by Lewke Disava in the 1740s—along with two royal ceremonial swords (Kastāné in gold and silver), an intricately inlaid dagger (Piha-Kaetta), and two heavy flintlock wall guns (Maha Thuwakku). This historic return marks a major milestone in international cultural restitution and the preservation of Sri Lanka’s sovereign heritage.