PHNOM PENH, Cambodia — The return to Cambodia This week of celebrating 14 sculptures stolen from the country during a period of war and unrest feels like welcoming the souls of ancestors, Cambodia’s culture minister said on Thursday.
The items repatriated from New York Metropolitan Museum of Ar They arrived on Wednesday and were shown to journalists and VIPs at the National Museum in the Cambodian capital Phnom Penh on Thursday.
They “were created between the 9th and 14th centuries during the Angkor period and reflect the Hindu and Buddhist religious systems prevalent at the time,” the museum said in a statement this week.
A statement from Cambodia’s Ministry of Culture and Fine Arts said the “historic homecoming of national treasures” follows years of negotiations between Cambodia’s art restitution team, U.S. federal prosecutors in New York, investigators from the U.S. Department of Homeland Security and the Metropolitan Museum.
Cambodian Culture Minister Phoeurng Sackona said the return of the artifacts is very important to the Cambodian people as it brings back the memory of their ancestors’ heritage through good times and bad.
“The pieces were abroad for a long, long time, but today they have returned to Cambodia, as a blessing to our people for the peace and stability of our country,” she said.
For Cambodians, the returned artworks carry the souls of their ancestors, she said. Bringing back the souls of ancestors also involves bringing history, admiration and knowledge, Phoeurng Sackona said.
She said, without elaborating, that Cambodia hopes to receive another 50 objects from the U.S. soon. Cambodia claims that other objects smuggled out of the country illegally remain at the Metropolitan Museum, as well as in other museums and in the hands of private collectors.
“These returns contribute to the reconciliation and healing of the Cambodian people, who have endured decades of civil war and suffered greatly from the tragedy of the Khmer Rouge regime,” said Phoeurng Sackona. “They also demonstrate the truly positive partnership we have developed with the United States.”
For the art world, their return is the culmination of a reckoning in recent years over art and archaeological treasures taken from their homelands. These include not only ancient Asian artworks but also pieces lost or stolen in turmoil elsewhere, including Syria, Iraq and Nazi-occupied Europe.
The pieces brought back to Cambodia by the Met were looted during a long period of civil war and instability in Cambodia, which was ruled by the brutal communist The Khmer Rouge regime In the seventies.
They were bought and traded by the well-known art dealer Douglas Latchford, who was indicted in 2019 for allegedly orchestrating a multi-year scheme to sell looted Cambodian antiquities on the international art market. Latchford, who died the following year, denied any involvement in the smuggling.
The Cambodian Ministry of Culture has named two works from the returns that are expected to be restored by reuniting them with other pieces already in their possession.
The repatriation includes the “extraordinary” 10th century stone statue of the female goddess Uma from the ancient royal capital of Koh Ker, it was said. The statue’s base had already been recovered from its original location.
“Finally, the Uma can be reunited and reach its full splendor as one complete statue,” the message said.
“In addition, an important returned artifact is a 10th century bronze head of the deity Avalokiteshvara, which the ministry very much looks forward to finally being reunited with its matching torso, currently on display at the National Museum of Cambodia,” the ministry said.