The Himalayan nation restores centuries-old statue, stolen in the 1980s, to its original temple in capital Kathmandu.Published On 2 May 20262 May 2026A centuries-old Buddha statue stolen from a Nepali temple has been reinstalled in its original location, one of several artefacts returned from foreign museums and collectors in recent years.The statue, dating to the 13th century, was carried in a palanquin back to its pagoda-style temple in the capital, Kathmandu, to the sound of traditional music on Friday.Recommended Stories list of 4 itemsend of list“I feel so happy, we all do. Our god is coming back,” temple-goer Sunkesari Shakya, 67, told the AFP news agency, recalling the day the statue was stolen, wreaking “havoc” in the community.In a ceremony attended by a visiting United States envoy, the statue, which returned from New York in 2022, was placed back on its original stone plinth. The event coincided with the festival of Buddha Jayanti, marking the birth of the founder of Buddhism. Devotees carry a sculpture of the Buddha to be reinstalled at a temple in Kathmandu [Prakash Mathema/AFP]A replica that locals had been worshipping instead was moved to another area of the temple.The statue was taken from the temple in the 1980s and later emerged at Tibet House US, a cultural centre in New York, where it was gifted by an unknown monk, according to Nepal’s Department of Archaeology.Sergio Gor, Washington’s special envoy to South and Central Asia, told AFP, “One of the things we are focusing on is to be able to bring back some of these incredible artefacts that decades past got into the wrong hands.”“We are trying to right a wrong from the past,” said Gor, who was on a three-day visit to Nepal. Devotees carry a sculpture of the Buddha to be reinstalled at a temple in Kathmandu [Prakash Mathema/AFP]Many in the Himalayan nation …
