Phnom Penh: The Ministry of Culture and Fine Arts said that two more Khmer artifacts from the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City, USA, will be returned to Cambodia after the Manhattan District Attorney’s Office seized them from the Metropolitan Museum of Art.
According to a press release from the Ministry of Culture on June 10, the official handover ceremony for the two artifacts will take place at the Manhattan District Attorney’s Office in New York City on June 10, 2026. In December 2023, the Mekong Delta Art Museum returned 14 Khmer artifacts to Cambodia after years of negotiations.
The two artifacts are: (1) a sandstone slab with a Raho (god) image from the pre-Angkor period, between the 7th and 8th centuries CE, and (2) a sandstone statue (identifiable as the demon Hiranyakasipu) from the 10th century Angkor period, originally from a Chinese temple in the Koh Ker region.
The Anti-Trafficking Unit of the Mean Hatan District Prosecutor’s Office provided evidence to the Mekong Delta Art Museum, indicating that the two artifacts were linked to Nancy Wiener’s trafficking network. After reviewing the evidence, the Metropolitan Museum of Art agreed to return the two artifacts to Cambodia at the request of the Manhattan District Attorney’s Office. The Manhattan District Attorney’s Office has been a close partner with Cambodia in the investigation and enforcement of the return of Khmer artifacts.
Over the past decade, the Antiquities Enforcement Unit’s investigation into Ms. Wiener’s network and the large-scale trafficking structure that included Ms. Wiener, Douglas Latchford, and Spink & Son resulted in the return of numerous Khmer artifacts to Cambodia. Nancy Wiener was convicted of trafficking in antiquities.
The Department of Culture and Fine Arts expresses its gratitude to Attorney Alvin Bragg, the Manhattan District Attorney, and the Antiquities Trafficking Unit, especially Assistant Attorney Matthew Bogdanos, and the investigative team, for their continued commitment to the principle that trafficking in stolen cultural property is not only a crime against the country of origin of the objects, but also a crime under New York State law.
