KATHMANDU — A 13th-century Buddha statue was reinstalled at its original pagoda-style temple in Kathmandu on Friday, decades after it was taken from Nepal and years after its return from New York. The statue was carried in a palanquin to the temple to the sound of traditional music and placed back on its original stone plinth.

A visiting United States envoy attended the ceremony, which coincided with the festival of Buddha Jayanti. A replica that locals had been worshipping was moved to another area of the temple.

The statue was taken from the temple in the 1980s and later emerged at Tibet House US, a cultural center in New York, where it had been gifted by an unknown monk, according to Nepal's Department of Archaeology. It was returned to Nepal in 2022.

"One of the things we are focusing on is to be able to bring back some of these incredible artefacts that decades past got into the wrong hands," said Sergio Gor, Washington's special envoy to South and Central Asia. "We are trying to right a wrong from the past." he added.

The statue is one of several artefacts returned from foreign museums and collectors in recent years. Conservation expert Rabindra Puri spoke about the broader effort at the ceremony. "This is very important. Our statues are not just objects of art but part of a living heritage," Puri said.

Nepal opened to the outside world in the 1950s, and thefts of sculptures, paintings, ornamental windows and doors followed. Many pieces were taken with the help of corrupt officials to feed art markets in the United States, Europe and elsewhere. The export of artefacts from Nepal remains illegal.

About 200 artefacts have been returned to Nepal, according to the Archaeology Department, including wood and stone carvings, paintings, scriptures and idols of gods and goddesses. At least 41 have been placed back in their original locations. More than 400 artefacts are officially listed as missing, and authorities are seeking to return more pieces from the U.S., France, Germany and the United Kingdom.