Cambodian artifacts return from US

Fourteen cultural artifacts were returned to Cambodia on July 3, according to the country's Ministry of Culture and Fine Arts.

Their return, from one of the largest cultural institutions in the world, New York City's Metropolitan Museum of Art, also known as the MET, was announced in December last year.

The repatriation follows several years of negotiations between the Cambodian restitution team, the US Attorney's Office for the Southern District of New York, the Homeland Security Investigations agency and representatives of the museum, the ministry said in a press release.

According to the release, the artifacts include the body of an extraordinary stone sculpture of a 10th-century female goddess, Uma, from the ancient royal capital of Koh Ker. The foot of the statue was identified at the Koh Ker temple complex in 2021.

The ministry said that, based on testimony from former looters, the sculpture's body was stolen in 1997.

"At last, the pieces of the Uma will be joined to achieve its full magnificence as one complete statue," it said.

Phoeurng Sackona, Cambodia's minister of culture and fine arts, said the return of the national treasures is of the utmost importance, not only for Cambodia but for all of humankind.

"There are many more of the Kingdom's treasures at the MET which we hope will be returned to Cambodia. We are thrilled that a number of private collectors and museums have reached out to us in recent months, and we expect many more significant returns in the future," she was quoted as saying in the release.

She added that the repatriation demonstrates Cambodia's continued commitment to finding and bringing back the souls of the ancestors that were taken from the motherland during past decades of civil war.

Another "exceptionally rare" and "expertly crafted" statue which was returned is a late 10th or early 11th-century bronze Bodhisattva Avalokiteshvara, which the MET called "Seated in Royal Ease". The piece was sold to the MET by the late Douglas Latchford in 1992. Latchford has since been described as a nefarious dealer in stolen antiquities, even by the MET itself, said the release.

Also part of the consignment is a 10th-century bronze Avalokiteshvara head, which will finally be reunited with its torso currently displayed at the National Museum of Cambodia. The head is believed to have been looted in the 1990s, while the torso was discovered in a river in Battambang Province in the 1930s, the ministry said.

"These returns contribute to the reconciliation and healing of the Cambodian people, who endured decades of civil war," Sackona said.

The Phnom Penh Post