More than 800 important historical Nepali documents, dating from the 13th to the 20th century, were handed over to Nepal’s National Archives, the country’s primary institution for preserving cultural heritage, on Friday, October 2, 2026. The documents had been held in the private collection of German national Josef Peter Rindfleisch.
The documents were jointly handed over to Foreign Minister Shishir Khanal, a senior member of the Rastriya Swatantra Party, a political party, and a Member of Parliament from Kathmandu 6. The handover was made by Professor Axel Michaels, a senior Professor of Classical Indology at Heidelberg University, a German academic institution, and a member of the Heidelberg Academy of Sciences and Humanities; Dr. Manik Bajracharya, a Buddhist scholar and researcher; and Rajan Khatiwada, a scholar associated with Heidelberg University. The ceremony took place at the National Archives in Ramshahpath, Kathmandu.
Restoring cultural integrity
Foreign Minister Khanal stated that the return of the historical documents restored Nepal’s cultural integrity and sovereign ownership over its civilisational heritage. He emphasised that Nepal’s art, literature, traditions, and sacred texts are not merely physical remains but the living soul of its civilisation, embodying centuries of philosophical thought, political governance, legal knowledge, and spiritual life.
“The return of each historical document to its homeland is a restoration of cultural rights and a renewed commitment to sovereign ownership of our civilisational heritage,” Khanal said, also praising the late Josef Peter Rindfleisch for his wish to return the collection and his foresight.
A legacy of repatriation
The repatriation process began with Josef Peter Rindfleisch’s expressed wish to return the documents to Nepal. His son, Walter Rindfleisch, honoured this wish by handing over his father’s collection to Professor Axel Michaels, a friend, with the explicit intention of returning them to Nepal. Professor Michaels subsequently facilitated their return through Heidelberg University.
Before their return, the collection underwent extensive preservation, digitisation, and scientific cataloguing under Professor Michaels’ leadership, with the support of the Heidelberg University Library. Minister Khanal lauded Professor Michaels and his research team for their academic integrity, research, and sustained efforts in identifying, cataloguing, and repatriating the documents.
Diverse historical records
The extraordinary archive, collected from Nepal between the 1780s and the 1990s, includes ancient palm-leaf manuscripts, royal decrees, court orders, Sanskrit texts, and historical travel accounts. Khanal highlighted these documents as indispensable sources for understanding Nepal’s political, legal, and intellectual development.
According to the collection’s catalogue, it comprises 465 palm-leaf manuscripts from the Malla period, including palm-leaf documents and lal mohar records, as well as 312 legal decrees and royal documents from the Shah and Rana periods bearing clay seals. The collection also features 18 handwritten texts and travel diaries from the offices of Rana prime ministers, alongside 11 handwritten manuscripts on various subjects.
International cooperation and future research
Minister Khanal noted that both Nepal and Germany are parties to the 1970 UNESCO Convention on the Means of Prohibiting and Preventing the Illicit Import, Export and Transfer of Ownership of Cultural Property. He stated that the handover demonstrated a shared commitment to the spirit and principles of this international convention.
The repatriation was a collaborative effort involving the Nepali Embassy in Germany, Heidelberg University, the Heidelberg Academy of Sciences and Humanities, the Sharaf Foundation, and the National Archives. Khanal recalled that Professor Michaels formally handed over the documents to the Nepali Embassy in Berlin on April 24, 2026, praising the coordination among the Nepali Embassy, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, and the National Archives throughout the process.
Research is currently underway to determine how these historical documents originally reached Germany.
