The Museum of Stolen Arts is also an integral element of Mission Panauti project, which is planned to be inaugurated on December 31st 2022. The museum is aimed to preserve traditional arts and monuments of Nepal by raising awareness regarding lost and stolen arts of Nepal. As an initial step, the museum will be displaying the replicas of 50 different stolen stone images of Nepal. Such images either become a decoration piece for private houses in foreign nations or a display piece of museums in foreign lands. Many Nepalese are unaware of this sad trend of Nepalese arts trafficking. Others, even if aware of this, choose to remain silent and carefree. Thus, this museum has been envisioned to create a social, ethical, administrative pressure to all national international authorities to end this ill trend of losing one’s heritage. Moreover, the museum will also prove to be an aid to introduce the legacy of rich cultural heritages of Nepal. At present, out of the first 50 replicas of stolen images to be displayed in Museum, 37 have been completed and is currently on display in Heritage Gallery, Bhaktapur until the museum is completed. From 2023 AD, all of these will be on continual display in the museum.
All of the artworks for the museum have been made under the leadership of a renowned stone artist Mr. Timir Nashan Ojha with his team of 11 Nepalese and Indian stone carvers.
