Originally stolen from Cambodia during a period of war, 14 sculptures are being repatriated from New York’s Metropolitan Museum of Art.
The items arrived in Cambodia on Wednesday and were displayed at the National Museum in Cambodia’s capital Phnom Penh.
Access was restricted to journalists and VIPs as a welcome ceremony was organised to celebrate the sculptures’ return.
The Cambodian Ministry of Culture and Fine Arts described this as a “historic homecoming of national treasures”.
The return involved several years of negotiating between Cambodia’s art restitution team, US federal prosecutors in New York, investigators from the US Department of Homeland Security and the Metropolitan Museum
According to the Metropolitan Museum, the sculptures were “were made between the 9th and 14th centuries in the Angkorian period and reflect the Hindu and Buddhist religious systems prevailing at that time”.
The sculptures were looted during a civil war in Cambodia when it was under the rule of the Khmer Rouge regime in the 1970s. The sculptures were acquired by art dealer Douglas Latchford.
Latchford was indicted in 2019 for allegedly orchestrating a multi-year scheme to traffic stolen Cambodian artefacts out of the country and later sell them on the international art market.
Latchford died the following year and denied any involvement in smuggling.
Phoeurng Sackona, the Cambodian Culture Minister, stated that the return of the sculptures was important to the Cambodian people, and said that there was hope Cambodia would soon receive another 50 artefacts from the US.
Cambodia states that there are other items illegally smuggled from the country still at the Metropolitan Museum, as well as other Museums and in private collections.
Sackona states that the return of stolen artefacts “demonstrate the truly positive partnership we have developed with the United States”.
“These returns contribute to the reconciliation and healing of the Cambodian people, who endured decades of civil war and suffered tremendously from the tragedy of the Khmer Rouge regime.”
“The pieces were staying a long, long time abroad, but today they returned to Cambodia, like a blessing for our people for peace, stability in our country now.”
Some of the sculptures returned are parts of larger sculptures, with the Cambodian culture ministry aiming to reunite them with other parts already in the country’s possession.