In a significant move toward preserving cultural memory, the Assam government has recently acquired the Kuthori house of Bhupen Hazarika, including seven bighas of land, for about ₹2.51 crore. The plan is to restore and transform it into a museum or cultural centre that honours the legendary musician’s legacy. Kuthori, near Kaziranga, holds special meaning: it was among the places where Hazarika wrote and composed many of his iconic songs. This step comes in his […]
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In a moment of solemn reckoning, France returned three colonial-era human skulls to Madagascar in late August 2025. This comes 128 years after they were taken following a violent confrontation. Among them is believed to be the skull of King Toera of the Sakalava people, decapitated by French troops in 1897. This restitution, under France’s 2023 law, marks a significant, if belated, step toward repairing colonial-era wrongs. But it’s also a reminder of how many […]
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The Long Shadow of Nazi Loot: Stolen, Spotted, and Gone Again Imagine a painting, nearly eight decades lost to the annals of wartime chaos, suddenly reappearing in plain sight and then disappearing once more under the shadow of suspicion. That is the perplexing story behind Portrait of a Lady by Italian master Giuseppe Ghislandi. Originally looted from Jewish art dealer Jacques Goudstikker during the Nazi era, its reappearance in Argentina has reopened painful chapters of […]
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Built, But Never Opened: Where Planning Went Missing Mizoram’s State Museum, completed over a decade ago, remains locked and unused, a monument to good intent and poor execution. Funded by a ₹3 crore central government grant with a ₹62 lakh state contribution, its construction began in 2007 and was wrapped up by 2012. Yet, it continues to lay idle for over 12 years, thanks to delays in furnishing and handover. This isn’t just a building; […]
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Handcrafted Gifts that Speak Across Oceans In a world where statecraft often unfolds in boardrooms and summit halls, Prime Minister Narendra Modi chose a softer, more elegant stage for diplomacy during his recent visit to Japan. Presenting exquisite traditional Indian artifacts as gifts, he offered not just tokens, but touchpoints—conversations in cloth and stone. These were more than gestures: they were cultural bridges reinforced with craft and subtlety that has been practiced in India for […]
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The Journey of a Textile Across Borders and Centuries Assam is preparing for a reunion centuries in the making. The Vrindavani Vastra, a 16th-century textile masterpiece woven under the guidance of saint-reformer Srimanta Sankardeva, is set to return on loan from the British Museum for an exhibition in 2027. For 18 months, this sacred fabric—currently preserved thousands of miles away—will be displayed in Assam in a specially built museum. The news is both poetic and […]
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A Museum at Risk of Going Dark The Van Gogh Museum in Amsterdam is, on paper, one of the most successful cultural institutions in Europe. With millions of visitors a year and a self-financing rate that most museums can only dream of (around 85% of its income is generated internally), you would think it is comfortably solvent. But behind the sunflower prints and café lattes lies a problem no gift shop can solve: the building […]
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The New French Law on Restitution France now stands at the edge of an unfamiliar, but long-awaited, horizon. In July 2025, Culture Minister Rachida Dati introduced a draft law that would, if passed, make it far easier for looted or misappropriated cultural artifacts to be returned to their countries of origin. For the first time, restitution would not require the exhausting ritual of special parliamentary legislation for each object. Instead, a decree approved by the […]
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