NEW YORK, NEW YORK—The New York Times reports that the Metropolitan Museum of Art will repatriate 16 Khmer artifacts obtained through a now-deceased art collector indicted in 2019 for trafficking in looted antiquities. Fourteen of the objects, including a seventh-century sculpture head of Buddha, will be returned to Cambodia, and the other two will be handed over to Thailand. The Cambodian government has stated that dozens of artifacts in the museum’s collections were stolen during periods of civil war and turmoil beginning in the 1970s. The United States Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of New York and Homeland Security Investigations have been investigating those claims. “The Met has been diligently working with Cambodia and the U.S. Attorney’s Office for years to resolve questions regarding these works of art, and new information that arose from this process made it clear that we should initiate the return of this group of sculptures,” said Max Hollein, director of the Met. Additional Khmer artifacts in the museum’s collections may be returned to Cambodia as the investigation continues. To read about an important Buddhist pilgrimage center in the Khmer Empire, go to "Off the Grid: Preah Khan of Kompong Svay, Cambodia."
