Warning: This webpage contains content that may be emotionally distressing or confronting for those affected by the pain of colonial violence, the loss of ancestors, or the loss of a child.
The Wereldmuseum collection includes 3,647 objects that contain ancestral human remains. These are most often parts of the human body, such as bones or skulls, hair, or human teeth, which are sometimes incorporated into artworks or artefacts. Particularly harrowing are the 26 premature and newborn babies preserved in fluid.
Together with members of various communities, Manuwi C. Tokai created an altar to serve as a place of remembrance for the ancestors held in the museum’s collection. The immediate catalyst for this was a baby, believed to be of Surinamese Indigenous descent, currently kept in museum storage. Although the child’s exact origins are uncertain, we know the baby entered the museum in 1923 via the Artis collection.
Manuwi C. Tokai initiated a request for the baby to be returned to the community. The Wereldmuseum supports this request and is working with the Ministry of Education, Culture, and Science to facilitate the repatriation.
A significant portion of the ancestral remains in the Wereldmuseum’s collection was acquired during the colonial era, often for what is now recognised as deeply problematic racial research. Within these unequal power structures, colonisers removed objects, artworks, and even ancestors – frequently without consent, and at times through violence – from the people of colonised territories.
The awareness that these remains were taken from their original context without permission weighs heavily on the museum. The Wereldmuseum feels a profound responsibility to contribute to justice and repair.
Ancestors, or ancestral remains, are not ordinary museum objects. They are people – with stories, relationships, and cultural and spiritual significance. For many communities, they are linked to painful histories of loss, displacement, and injustice. These individuals are no longer on public display, nor are they visible in Manuwi C. Tokai’s installation. They remain in museum storage, awaiting an appropriate and dignified final destination.
Wereldmuseum is actively researching the origins of these people. This work is done in collaboration with communities, both in the Netherlands and abroad, in a shared effort to find careful, respectful, and humane ways to engage with this history. Central to this process are recognition, mourning, dialogue, and the possibility of healing.
Wereldmuseum acknowledges the pain and weight of this subject and is committed to openness, respect, and healing. We invite communities, visitors, and all those concerned to reflect with us on how to address this history – and how to shape a future rooted in dignity for these ancestors and their descendants, even when their precise origins remain unknown.
We encourage anyone seeking more information or wishing to engage in dialogue to contact us.
Do you have questions? Would you like to learn more? Are you part of, or representing, a community? Would you like to get in touch?
Visit our collection website (search term: ‘menselijke resten’) or send us an email at collectieinformatie@wereldmuseum.nl.
