'Souls of Ancestors' display stirs new interest in Cambodian antiquity

PHNOM PENH, CAMBODIA — 

Nhem Liza made her archetypal sojourn to the National Museum of Cambodia aft learning astir the August instrumentality from the United States of dozens of looted Cambodian artifacts, including important Hindu and Buddhist masterpieces dating from the ninth to 14th centuries.

"Those artifacts are amazing," said 15-year-old Nhem, a 10th people Phnom Penh precocious schoolhouse student.

The instrumentality of the statues — viewed arsenic divine oregon containing the souls of ancestors — has fixed younger Cambodians similar Nhem an accidental to clasp the country’s taste practice and history.

"I americium excited to spot these artifacts our authorities is trying to get back," she told VOA connected September 16 aft viewing immoderate of objects present connected show astatine the museum.

Cambodia has worked for years to place and unafraid the instrumentality of culturally and historically important relics from backstage collections and museums overseas, galore of which were mislaid to the state due to the fact that of war, theft and the amerciable artifact trade.

Cambodia faced continuous civilian unrest from the mid-1960s until the aboriginal 1990s and archeological sites from the past Khmer Empire, specified arsenic Angkor Wat and Koh Ker, suffered superior harm and wide looting, Cambodian officials told VOA Khmer.

In August, Cambodia celebrated the instrumentality of 70 items from museums and backstage collections overseas, including 14 from the Metropolitan Museum of Art successful New York. The objects see priceless chromatic statues specified arsenic 1 depicting a mythical warrior from the Hindu epic Mahabharata. There are besides statues of Hindu deities Shiva and Parvati, and 1 of the Hindu deity Ardhanarishvara from the past superior of Koh Ker, according to Ministry of Culture and Fine Arts.

Presiding implicit the instrumentality ceremony, Prime Minister Hun Manet said the 70 returned objects symbolically reunited the Cambodian radical with their "ancestral souls," adding that the authorities volition proceed moving to bring much artifacts home.

From 1996 to July of this year, 1,098 artifacts had been returned to Cambodia — 571 from backstage collections and 527 from overseas institutions and governments, Hun said.

"It is the psyche of our nation," Doeun Sokun Aly, 18, told VOA astatine the museum. "The heroes of our state built those artifacts for the younger procreation to cognize astir those antiques. … I volition sojourn museums much to spot much artifacts."

National Museum Director Chhay Visoth told VOA the show is meant to disturbance caller involvement from Cambodians, particularly younger Cambodians.

"Recently, we person seen a astonishing summation of Cambodian visitors to the museum, particularly youth," helium said by telephone this week.

The authorities, helium said, are present readying to behaviour a "mobile exhibition" to show the artifacts astatine museums successful provinces specified arsenic Siem Reap, Battambang and Pursat, successful the northwestern portion of the country.

Chhay said the depository besides hopes the show volition nonstop a connection to backstage collectors and museums overseas that "those artifacts are greatly important" and "not for beautifying gardens, kitchens, surviving rooms, residents oregon offices of the rich."

"For Cambodians, they are meaningful indeed. Those artifacts are the souls of Khmer ancestors," helium said.

Chhay added that the depository is already readying to grow its show country to accommodate much returned artifacts.

Over the years, Cambodia has received dozens of statues from the families of affluent collectors, specified arsenic George Lindemann, a U.S. businessman and philanthropist who died successful 2018.

In 2021, aft 3 years of negotiations, the household of the precocious British creation collector Douglas Latchford agreed to instrumentality much than 100 Cambodian artifacts, according to the government.

Latchford, who co-authored 3 books connected Cambodian creation and antiques, died successful 2020 facing accusations that helium had illegally trafficked the artifacts to his homes successful Bangkok and London.

In November 2019, national prosecutors successful New York charged Latchford with falsifying the provenance, invoices and shipping documents to transport invaluable Khmer-era relics to backstage collections, museums and auction houses astir the world.

Other taste objects that person recovered their mode backmost to Cambodia went done processes including voluntary returns, negotiations, seizures and ineligible proceedings.

The United States has helped unafraid the instrumentality of good implicit 150 antiques to Cambodia truthful far, Wesley Holzer, a U.S. Embassy spokesperson successful Phnom Penh said.

"The United States is arrogant of its longstanding contributions to preserving and restoring Cambodia’s taste heritage," helium told VOA successful an email, adding that Cambodia is the archetypal state successful Southeast Asia to found a bilateral spot repatriation memorandum of knowing with the U.S.

"Through this MOU, the United States and Cambodia person trained practice professionals, prevented pillaging of antiquities, and facilitated the instrumentality of looted artifacts. This statement besides makes it amerciable to import definite Cambodian archeological and ethnological worldly into the United States," helium added.

Bradley Gordon, a lawyer representing Cambodian government, said determination were "many more" that his squad are searching for.

"To beryllium clear, Cambodia does not privation to bare retired museums astir the world, but wants galore important and precious nationalist treasures to travel home. Cambodia besides is unfastened to semipermanent loans which they are exploring with a fig of museums," helium added.

A subordinate of Gordon’s restitution team, Cambodian researcher Kunthea Chhoun, said getting the artifacts backmost is not easy.

"We request to analyse and cod testimonies from looters, villagers and brokers. It takes a large magnitude of patience and galore interviews. We person utilized antithetic approaches to get backmost our artifacts and it has taken galore years," she told VOA successful a September 20 email.