BANGKOK (AP) — Thailand’s National Museum hosted a welcome-home ceremony Tuesday for two ancient statues that were illegally trafficked from Thailand by a British collector of antiquities and were returned from the collection of New York’s Metropolitan Museum of Art. The objects -- a tall bronze figure called the “Standing Shiva” or the “Golden Boy” and a smaller sculpture called “Kneeling Female” -- are thought to be around 1,000 years old. This most recent repatriation of artwork comes as many museums in the U.S. and Europe reckon with collections that contain objects looted from Asia, Africa and other places during centuries of colonialism or in times of upheaval. The Metropolitan Museum had announced last December that it would return more than a dozen artifacts to Thailand and Cambodia after they were linked to the late Douglas Latchford, an art dealer and collector accused of running a huge antiquities trafficking network out of Southeast Asia. |
Real Madrid can clinch Spanish league title as it seeks another Champions League crownEU announces 1 billion euros in aid for Lebanon amid a surge in irregular migrationChinese authorities to ensure orderly college entrance examFlights to Dubai disrupted as rain hits the UAE 2 weeks after its heaviest recorded rainfall everGuangzhou Railway Group suspends 62 trains due to heavy rainWorld's largest plant discovered off Australian coastHuman Rights Watch accuses Kenyan government of inadequate response to floodingHuman Rights Watch accuses Kenyan government of inadequate response to floodingParis inaugurates giant water storage basin to clean up the River Seine for Olympic swimmingChina's largest saltwater lake sees more water birds