The items repatriated from New York’s Metropolitan Museum of Art arrived Wednesday and were displayed to journalists and VIPs on Thursday at the National Museum in the Cambodian capital, Phnom Penh.
Fourteen rare Angkor era sculptures tied to a controversial art dealer and collector were returned to Cambodia from New York's Metropolitan Museum of Art earlier this week.
Cambodia claims that other items illegally trafficked from the country are still at the Metropolitan Museum, as well as at other museums and in the hands of private collectors.
Heng Sinith/APThe pieces returned to Cambodia from the Met were looted during a long period of civil war and instability in Cambodia, which was ruled by the brutal communist Khmer Rouge regime in the 1970s.
“At last, the Uma can be reunified to achieve its full magnificence as one complete statue,” it said.
Persons:
Phoeurng Sackona, ”, Heng Sinith, ” Sackona, “, Douglas Latchford, Uma, Koh Ker
Organizations:
Phnom Penh AP, New York’s Metropolitan Museum of Art, National Museum, Cambodia’s Ministry of Culture and Fine Arts, United, US Department of Homeland Security, Metropolitan Museum, New York's Metropolitan Museum of Art, Ministry, National Museum of Cambodia
Locations:
Phnom Penh, Cambodia, New, United States, New York, Khmer, Syria, Iraq, Nazi, Europe, Khmer Rouge