US museum returns 10th century Khmer statue

Cambodia yesterday welcomed home a 10th-century Khmer statue that was looted during the country’s civil war before spending the past three decades at an American museum.
The sandstone Torso of Rama statue, which stands 62 inches high and is missing its head, arms and feet, was formally handed over at a ceremony in Phnom Penh attended by government officials, the US ambassador and the director of the Denver Museum of Art.
The museum said it acquired the statue in 1986 from the Doris Weiner Gallery in New York City but only recently learned new facts about its provenance.
“We were recently provided with verifiable evidence that was not available to us at the time of acquisition, and immediately began taking all appropriate steps […] for its return home,” Christoph Heinrich, the museum’s director, said in a joint statement with the Cambodian government.
Cambodia’s Secretary of State Chan Thani thanked the museum for voluntarily returning the piece, which he said shows its sensitivity to Cambodian culture.
The statue will be returned to its home at the Prasat Chen temple on the Koh Ker temple complex in Siem Reap province, which is also home to the famed Angkor Wat complex.MDT/AP