via ThaiPBS, 02 June 2022: The 500-year-old Lanna-style gold crown was repatriated from the US, but the articles do not say where the crown was repatriated from. Mention is also made about efforts to repatriate antiquities from the Denver Art Museum.
Thailand has recently received an antique gold crown, part of a Buddha statue believed to be about 500 years old, from the United States, with the help of the Department of Homeland Security, according to Culture Minister Itthiphol Kunplome.
The crown was made of 95% pure gold in the Lanna art form to decorate a stone-sculpted Buddha statue, a popular practice during the period as a religious offering. The crown itself weighs about 42.6g.
The antique crown is now being kept at the National Museum in Bangkok by the Fine Arts Department for study prior to being exhibited in the future, said the minister.
He went on to say that officials from the US Homeland Security Department have been investigating some bronze sculptures, believed to originate from the Prakon Chai archaeological site in Thailand’s north-eastern province of Buri Ram, which are currently on display at the Denver Art Museum, with a possibility that the sculptures may be returned to Thailand.
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