PHNOM PENH, Jun 18 (NNN-AKP) – Twenty-seven smuggled Cambodian antiquities have been repatriated to the country from the United States, Cambodia’s Ministry of Culture and Fine Arts said, yesterday.
The ancient objects were airlifted to Cambodia on Wednesday, it said, in a press statement, adding that, among them were several important Buddhist and Hindu statues, such as a bronze meditating Buddha, and a sandstone statue of Shiva.
The returned antiquities have been placed at the National Museum in Phnom Penh, for experts to evaluate, clean, repair and install the necessary pedestals, in preparation for an official handover ceremony at an appropriate time.
“These Khmer cultural objects are the soul of generations of Khmer ancestors, and represent Cambodia’s awe-inspiring past, which have departed from their motherland, over a number of years, during a period of war and turmoil,” Minister of Culture and Fine Arts, Phoeurng Sackona, said in the statement.– NNN-AKP
