Rubin Museum to Return Nepalese Relics Thought to Have Been Stolen.

The Rubin Museum of Art decided to return two sculptures to Nepal after it was discovered that they had been stolen from religious sites.

Nepal's acting consul general, Bishnu Prasad Gautam, said in a statement that they are grateful. The Rubin and Nepal have cooperated to recover lost artifacts.

The Nepal Heritage Recovery Campaign was credited by the museum for playing a role in the repatriation by raising questions about the history of the items. The recovery campaign's account on the social networking site posted concerns that the wooden relics had been stolen.

The Metropolitan Museum of Art and the Dallas Museum of Art were among the cultural institutions that had relics returned last year.

The Rubin Museum said in its statement that the first items in its collection that were found to have been obtained illegally were the two relics. Five years into a full review of its artifacts, the institution is filling gaps in knowledge about provenance records.

We have an ongoing duty to research the art and objects we collect and exhibit. Jorrit Britschgi, the museum's executive director, said in the statement that the theft of archaeological objects continues to be a major concern. It is our responsibility to address and resolve issues of cultural property, including helping to facilitate the return of the two objects in question.

The upper part of a wooden torana from a temple complex in Patan is a relic. A carving of a female spirit of the clouds and waters from the 14th century was part of an ornamental window decoration in the Itum Bahal monastery of Kathmandu.

Four years before the Rubin Museum was purchased by the Rubin Cultural Trust, the garland went missing from the monastery, and scholars working for the museum found out. Sandrine Milet, a spokeswoman for the museum, said that the two artifacts were purchased in private sales but that they wanted to remain anonymous.

If the objects go back to their original sites, they will be determined by Nepal's Department of Archaeology. After the Dallas Museum of Art returned a sculpture of the Hindu goddess, the government returned it to the temple. Attendees reached up to touch the artifact, which is considered a living god, and used their fingers to bless the procession.

The director of the Taragaon Museum in Kathmandu hopes that a similar ceremony will greet the objects returning from the Rubin Museum. The Nepal Heritage Recovery Campaign was helped by him.

In an interview, he said he was happy. It will be easier for other museums to follow the Rubin's lead if they are repatriating their artifacts.