Amid the stone sculptures of Hindu demons, mythological temple guardians and Buddhist divinities, Cambodian officials this month recognized the success of lengthy years of repatriation efforts with a ceremony at the prime minister’s office in Phnom Penh. In a room filled with artifacts, officials formally welcomed the return of statues and other objects stolen from sites where the Khmer people, centuries ago, had once honored their kings and deities.
Many Cambodians believe the statues are divine or contain the souls of their Khmer ancestors. Hundreds had ended up in museums and other collections around the world.
After years of research and diplomacy, Cambodian officials, aided at times by U.S. investigators, convinced museums and wealthy collectors in 15 countries that the artifacts in their galleries and homes had been taken illegally, often from remote jungle sites. All told, since 2012, more than 200 relics have been repatriated.
The testimony of former looters helped investigators track where statues had been taken, an important step in demonstrating that they had been stolen. Many had been looted in the 1970s, during the chaotic reign of the Khmer Rouge. Investigators say much of the looting was organized by Douglas A.J. Latchford, an art dealer living in Thailand who died in 2020, pictured here:
One former looter, for example, told investigators that he found a 10th- or 11th-century bronze buried on the grounds of a temple in 1990. This image of it during restoration was found on Latchford’s computer:
In 1992, Latchford sold the looted statue to the Metropolitan Museum of Art. It was on display there until last year, when it was returned to Cambodia:
It was among the dozens shown at this month’s ceremony:
In addition to this bronze, the Met agreed to return 13 other artifacts to Cambodia. Many had been on display in Gallery 249:
The gallery features Khmer art, and once included this sandstone sculpture of a female deity, which was donated to the museum in 2003:
The statue is now in Cambodia, where officials displayed it at the prime minister’s office:
In some cases, the looted items were the highlights of museum collections that featured Khmer art. In addition to the Met, other museums that cooperated in the return of items were the Cleveland Museum of Art, the Norton Simon Museum and the Denver Art Museum:
The Denver museum returned four items to Cambodia. One had been bought from Latchford, and three had been gifts from him, including this sandstone statue of Prajnaparamita, known as “The Goddess of Transcendent Wisdom,” which was given to the museum in 2000:
It was returned to Cambodia, with the three others, in 2021.
Other statues were found in the homes of wealthy collectors. This carving, known as a Garuda, once graced the home of James H. Clark, the founder of Netscape:
The sculpture, which sat before a temple entrance and depicts a creature that is half-human and half bird-of-prey, was among the 35 objects Clark returned in 2022. “It’s hard for people to give up something they paid for,” he said, “but for me, why would you want to own something that was stolen?”
Another 33 statues were returned last year by the family of another wealthy collector, George Lindemann, a businessman and philanthropist who died in 2018. They included this sandstone sculpture of a mythic serpent sheltering Buddha as he meditates. Cambodia’s investigators say this image from Latchford’s computer shows the statue, known as a Naga Buddha, before it was fully restored:
Some of the objects dated back at least 1,200 years. The Naga Buddha, displayed during the ceremony, dates from the 12th century.
From the prime minister’s office, the artifacts were transported to the National Museum of Cambodia, also in Phnom Penh, where they are now on display.
Cambodian officials are still pressing the Met and others for the return of additional objects they view as looted. But the satisfaction of having reclaimed so many was evident at the ceremony. “We welcome the return of these cultural treasures,” the prime minister, Hun Manet, said, “which are the legacy of our ancestors, after being torn from their homeland for many years due to war, theft and illegal trade abroad.”
Read More: After Years of Searching, Cambodia Celebrates the Return of Its ‘Gods’
