New York's Metropolitan Museum to return looted statues to Cambodia
New York - The Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York confirmed that it would return two 10th-century, life-size statues to Cambodia after the country said they were looted 40 years ago, The New York Times reported Friday.
Cambodian officials said the Kneeling Attendants, which are Khmer sandstone statues currently adorning the museum's South-East Asian exhibit, had been removed from Koh Ker, an ancient temple complex hidden in the Cambodian jungle.
Met director Thomas Campbell said the decision to return the statues followed an investigation by the museum that found evidence supporting Cambodian officials' claims.
"This is a case in which additional information regarding the Kneeling Attendants has led the museum to consider facts that were not known at the time of the acquisition and to take the action we are announcing today," Campbell told The New York Times.
The statues were obtained by the Met in separate pieces over a period of six years and went on display after they were reattached in 1993.//DPA
