Bangkok:
Two ancient sandstone artefacts believed to have been stolen from Thailand through the Vietnam War are set to return from the United States Friday evening, officials say.
The temple help beams with their exquisite carvings of the Hindu deities Indra and Yama date back to the late 10th or 11th century and had been on show for decades at the San Francisco Asian Art Museum.
They are anticipated to touch down in Bangkok on Friday evening and will be place on show at the National Museum for 3 months from Tuesday, following a unique ceremony.
Thai Fine Arts Department Director General Prateep Pengtako stated the two lintels are about 1,000 years old and show the influence of the ancient Khmer Kingdom, which had its capital in modern day-day Cambodia.
“Lintels are part of the structure of ancient Cambodian temples,” he told AFP.
“The lintels were assessed to be taken away sometime between 1958 and 1969. In particular, 1965-66 saw a lot of Thai artefacts go missing.”
The lintels have been amongst 133 Thai artefacts on show at museums and galleries in the US.
“The return of these antiquities holds great importance in terms of history, archaeology, and culture to the Thai Government and the Thai people,” the Thai foreign ministry stated, right after a handover ceremony earlier this week in between US authorities and the Royal Thai Consulate General in Los Angeles.
“It is believed that both of the sacred lintels were illegally exported from Thailand around the 1960s during the Vietnam War.”
The repatriation comes right after a 3-year investigation by the US Department of Homeland Security.
The California museum insisted it had lengthy planned to return the artefacts, but disputed investigators’ allegations that they have been stolen.
“We are very pleased that these lintels are going back to their country of origin,” Jay Xu, the museum director, stated in a statement.
US museums are not the only ones to be embroiled in art provenance scandals in current years.
Australia has repatriated at least eight looted statues to India given that 2014.
France has vowed to return products taken from Senegal and Benin. The Netherlands is moving to repatriate artefacts stolen from its former colonies. And Germany has promised to give back artefacts to Nigeria.
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