Germany hands over more than 800 historical documents to National Archives

Nepal's National Archives has received more than 800 Nepali historical documents dating from the 13th to the 20th century that had been held in a private collection in Germany. The documents were part of the personal collection of German national Josef Peter Rindfleisch.

At a ceremony held at the Archives on Friday, Professor Axel Michaels of the Heidelberg Academy of Sciences and Humanities at Heidelberg University, along with Dr. Manik Bajracharya and Rajan Khatiwada, jointly handed over the documents to Foreign Minister Shishir Khanal.

Rindfleisch's son, Walter, had entrusted his father's documents to his friend, Professor Michaels, to have them returned to Nepal. Michaels subsequently transferred the documents to Nepal through Heidelberg University.

The effort involved cooperation between the Nepali Embassy in Germany, Heidelberg University, the Saraf Foundation and the National Archives.