Stolen Nepali artefacts located in USA, Switzerland

By A Staff Reporter,Kathmandu, Aug. 16: A number of Nepali artefacts have been located at museums, auction houses, and private collections in several countries.   

According to the Lost Arts of Nepal, a Facebook page that tracks the whereabouts of Nepal’s stolen artefacts, the stolen artefacts were stolen from several parts of Nepal.   

The 13th-century stone sculpture of standing Laxmi has been located at Sotheby's Auction, New York, USA. 

The sculpture was stolen from a temple in Bhaktpaur in the 1980s.  

The exact location of the temple has not been ascertained yet. The stolen stone sculpture of Vishnu in Bhaktapur is from the 11th Century.

Another, 13th-century stone sculpture of standing Laxmi, has been located in the collection of the Walters Art Museum, Baltimore, the USA. 

It was stolen from the Sridhara Bishnu temple in Kwathandau, Bhaktapur in the 1980s. 

The location of the temple has been mentioned by the museum in Gachhen Tole, Bhaktapur.  

However, the Lost Arts of Nepal has confirmed it to be from Kwathandau Tole, Bhaktapur (Adjacent to Gachhen Tole).

A fragment of central deity (Lord Vishnu) is now in the collection of Los Angeles County Museum of Art, the USA, and his consort (Goddess Laxmi) is now in a private collection, Sold by Sotheby's, in the same country. The whereabouts of his vehicle (Garuda) is still unknown.

Similarly, a fragment of Goddess Laxmi is now in the collection of the Walters Art Museum, Baltimore, the USA and his vehicle (Garuda) is now in Panasia Gallery, Zurich, Switzerland. The main central deity Vishnu is still unknown.