via various sources, 04 July 2024: Fourteen Khmer artifacts have been repatriated from New York’s Metropolitan Museum of Art to Cambodia, following extensive negotiations. These include notable pieces such as a 10th-century statue of Uma and a bronze Bodhisattva Avalokiteshvara.
The Ministry of Culture and Fine Arts announced that 14 cultural artefacts touched down in the Kingdom on July 3. Their impending return, from one of the largest cultural institutions in the world, New York City’s Metropolitan Museum of Art (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 (SDNY), Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) and representatives of the MET, said a ministry press release.
According to the release, the artefacts 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.
Source: Khmer artefacts arrive home from New York
See also:
- 14 Cambodian Artifacts Handed Over to National Museum of Cambodia | EAC News, 04 Jul 2024
- Trafficked Cambodian artefacts returned from US | AFP/El Paso Inc, 04 Jul 2024
- Precious artefacts finally repatriated from MET Museum | Khmer Times, 04 Jul 2024
- Historic Repatriation: Cambodian Artifacts Returned from New York’s Metropolitan Museum of Art | 04 Jul 2024
- Cambodia welcomes the Met’s repatriation of centuries-old statues looted during past turmoil | AP, 04 Jul 2024
- Stolen Cambodian artefacts returned from New York museum | Al Jazeera, 04 Jul 2024
- Official Handover of 14 Cambodian Cultural Artifacts from Metropolitan Museum of Art to Cambodia | CPP, 04 Jul 2024
