[mkrazzledazzle]

Interesting, how did it just end up in the british library? Why is there an aspect of romanticization to the fact that it is in a british library? Why isn't it in a library in indonesia? Let me guess..if it were not for the british having looted it with the express purpose of "preservation", the world would not have come to know about this.

[INTPenis]

You're right of course and I would have made the same point, but to play british advocate for a second; the javanese might not have had a good place to store it when it was stolen.

It should definitely be returned now but the british might have saved thousands of artefacts by stealing them from other less stable regions.

[alimw]

I imagine it was bought with money.

[NoImmatureAdHom]

I looked it up (well, kinda). It's from the Crawfurd collection. Some were looted by the British, but most were bought or acquired by normal means. https://www.academia.edu/43066387/The_Origins_of_the_John_Cr...

Also, turns out Crawfurd was a political "radical" of the time, calling for universal suffrage, secret ballots, and public education.

[foobarian]

Sadly you are probably right about that. And so here we are...