Southeast Asian Nations Demand Justice from Denver Art Museum

via Denver Post, 14 August 2023: Southeast Asian nations claim Denver Art Museum houses stolen heritage artifacts, including relics donated by Emma C. Bunker; Museum faces demands for repatriation.

Government officials from three Southeast Asian nations say the Denver Art Museum continues to house antiquities stolen from their countries’ ancient temples and heritage sites.

Representatives from Cambodia, Thailand and Vietnam sent letters to the museum, via U.S. investigators, in May and June, saying the prized relics had no legal export permits to lawfully leave their countries. The museum, they said, did not respond.

“There is a taint on these cultural properties at the Denver Art Museum,” Phoeurng Sackona, Cambodia’s minister of culture and fine arts, wrote in a June letter obtained by The Denver Post.

Source: 3 Southeast Asian countries say Denver Art Museum holds stolen heritage

See also:

• Cambodia, Thailand, and Vietnam Say Denver Art Museum Still Has Stolen Items | ArtNews, 16 Aug 2023
• Officials from three countries have called on Denver Art Museum to return eight artefacts in its collection | The Art Newspaper, 17 Aug 2023