Cambodia welcomes back statues
Print Edition
CAMBODIA yesterday officially welcomed the return of three ancient statues looted from the kingdom more than 40 years ago, including one retrieved after a long legal battle in the United States.
Authorities say the 10th-century sandstone artworks were stolen in the 1970s as the country was gripped by civil war, from the Koh Ker temple site near the famed Angkor Wat complex.
The statues, part of a nine-strong ensemble, depict warriors Duryodhana and Bhima locked in combat, plus a bystander called Balarama.
They were recently returned from the US and are considered pieces of extraordinary value to the Cambodian people and part of their cultural heritage.
“In a long 40-year journey, surviving civil wars, looting, smuggling and traveling the world, these three (statues) have now regained their freedom and returned home,” Deputy Prime Minister Sok An said during a homecoming ceremony.
Sok An said Cambodia would continue to search for three more statues from the Koh Ker site that remain missing.
Yesterday’s repatriation follows the return in June last year of two other Khmer 10th century statues which Cambodia says were also looted in the 1970s from the Koh Ker temple site. They were on show for 20 years at New York’s Metropolitan Museum of Art.
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