Looted Centuries-Old Statues Return to Cambodia from the Met

Fourteen sculptures are back in Cambodia after several 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 New York's Metropolitan Museum of Art.

Cambodia's Ministry of Culture and Fine Arts called the repatriation a "historic homecoming of national treasures." Cambodian Culture Minister Phoeurng Sackona said the return was "like a blessing for our people for peace, stability in our country now."

CAMBODIA-US-CULTURE-MUSEUM-HISTORY-ARCHEOLOGY — A worker prepares statues during a repatriation event for Angkorian artefacts returned from the United States at the National Museum in Phnom Penh on July 4, 2024. Buddhist monks in the Cambodian capital Phnom Penh chanted blessings and threw flowers on July 4 in a welcoming ceremony for 14 trafficked artefacts that were repatriated by a prestigious New York museum. TANG CHHIN SOTHYTANG CHHIN SOTHY/AFP via Getty Images

The sculptures were made between the 9^th and 14^th centuries, during the Angkorian Period, and "reflect the Hindu and Buddhist religious systems prevailing at that time," said Cambodia's National Museum. Among the returning sculptures are a 10^th century carving of the mythological goddess Uma, whose foot has already been retrieved from its original site at the ancient royal capital of Koh Ker. Also returning is the head of a 10^th century sculpture of Avalokiteshvara, whose body is currently on display at the National Museum of Cambodia.

The sculptures were bought and trafficked by art dealer Douglas Latchford, who, for several years during the Khmer Rouge, smuggled antiquities out of Cambodia. Latchford was indicted in 2019 but denied any involvement. He died the following year. "Experts are still uncovering the full picture, but their work has exposed Latchford as 'a one-man-supply-and-demand' for Cambodian plunder during the kingdom's decades of civil war, foreign occupation, and genocide," The Diplomat said of Latchford the year he died. "Even today in a crowded global field, no single figure looms as large over a nation's wholesale pillage."

Even so, Phoeurng Sackona remains in brighter spirits, saying: "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. They also demonstrate the truly positive partnership we have developed with the United States." She said Cambodia is still hopeful of seeing the return of 50 more artifacts still in the United States.