Itumbaha Museum to be inaugurated on Saturday amid controversy
Itumbaha. Photo: Kamal Ratna Tuladhar for Wikimedia Commons Kathmandu, July 28 Itumbaha Museum is being inaugurated on Saturday, July 29. The museum is being opened with support from the Rubin Museum of Art in New York. This comes after Rubin returned two artefacts in its collection back to Nepal . Among the returned artefact, a wooden garland bearing Apsara (14th century) belonged to Itumbaha, which was removed in 1999 before Rubin’s purchase in 2003. “Following Rubin’s return of this object to Nepal, a partnership was formed with the Itumbaha Conservation Society and Lumbini Buddhist University Museology lecturer Swosti Rajbhandari Kayastha along with her students, where the Rubin provided financial and advisory support for the documentation, preservation, display, and interpretation of Itumbaha’s historic collection,” reads a statement issued by Rubin Museum of Art. The Rubin Museum of Art has contributed USD 20,000 for a three-room display and around 150 artefacts that ha...