Cambodia Celebrates Return of Stolen Angkor Jewelery

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Cambodia celebrates the return of Angkor jewelery after decades in Britain where it was stolen. Photos/NDTV

PHNOM PENH – Cambodia celebrates the return of a collection of Angkor crown jewels that were lost decades due to theft. The jewelery including the golden crown was declared a priceless cultural heritage.

Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen on Friday showcased his collection of Angkor crown jewels after decades in Britain where they were stolen. He begged for another long-lost Cambodian treasure to be returned.

Gold crowns, necklaces and amulets are among treasures from the Angkor period, which lasted from the ninth to the 14th centuries when the Khmer empire dominated much of Southeast Asia.

Cambodia’s Ministry of Culture is characterizing the jewelery – which it is hoped will be displayed in the national museum – as a priceless cultural heritage.

“I appeal to museums, institutions and collectors of Khmer artefacts to continue voluntarily returning such items to Cambodia,” said PM Hun Sen.

“Inherited items must be returned to their country of origin,” he said again, as quoted by AFP, Saturday (18/3/2023).

The Ministry of Culture last month secretly received 77 works of art from the family of the late Douglas Latchford, a disgraced British art dealer.

Two 10th century statues recently returned by the United States are also on display.

Dominic Williams, the British ambassador to Cambodia, wrote on Twitter: “It was an amazing privilege to see previously stolen artefacts displayed in their ancestral home.”