BANGKOK (AP) — Thailand’s National Museum hosted a welcome-home ceremony Tuesday for two ancient statues that were illegally trafficked from Thailand by a British collector of antiquities and were returned from the collection of New York’s Metropolitan Museum of Art.
The objects -- a tall bronze figure called the “Standing Shiva” or the “Golden Boy” and a smaller sculpture called “Kneeling Female” -- are thought to be around 1,000 years old.
This most recent repatriation of artwork comes as many museums in the U.S. and Europe reckon with collections that contain objects looted from Asia, Africa and other places during centuries of colonialism or in times of upheaval.
The Metropolitan Museum had announced last December that it would return more than a dozen artifacts to Thailand and Cambodia after they were linked to the late Douglas Latchford, an art dealer and collector accused of running a huge antiquities trafficking network out of Southeast Asia.
No more cute snaps of Mt Fuji. A screen is up in a Japanese town to prevent tourist crowds
Giants quarterback Daniel Jones hopes to be ready for the start of training camp
Hawks' Trae Young says he feels better after late
Chinese authorities arrest 4 Tibetans for protest over land grab — Radio Free Asia
NASCAR star Kyle Larson is embracing his Indianapolis 500 debut, right down to milking a cow
Photo exhibition in Macao displays ancient civilization in Shanghai
Justin Verlander is likely to make his season debut for the Astros this weekend at Washington
Idaho can enforce ban on gender
Election 2024: Biden and the Democrats raised far less in April than Trump and the GOP
Photo exhibition in Macao displays ancient civilization in Shanghai
Guardians ruin Francisco Lindor's Cleveland homecoming, trip Mets 3
China to speed up development of new quality productive forces: top legislator