A 500-year-old bronze idol of a saint believed to be stolen from a temple in Tami Nadu will be returned to India by the UK's prestigious Oxford University.
"On 11 March 2024, the Council of the University of Oxford supported a claim from the Indian High Commission for the return of a 16th-century bronze sculpture of Saint Tirumankai Alvar from the Ashmolean Museum.
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This decision will now be submitted to the Charity Commission for approval," said a statement from the university's Ashmolean Museum. The Ashmolean Museum at the University of Oxford had acquired the 60cm-tall statue of Saint Tirumankai Alvar from Sotheby's auction house in 1967 from the collection of a collector named Dr J.R. Belmont (1886-1981).
A formal request was made by the Indian government for the bronze idol which was believed to be stolen from a temple in Tamil Nadu and found its way to a UK museum through auction. The museum said it acquired the statue in “good faith” in 1967.
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