Cambodia holds a blessing ceremony on July 4, 2024 for 14 looted antiquities returned from New York's Metropolitan Museum of Art (MET). Culture Minister Phoeung Sackona and US charge d'affaires Andrew Herrup led the ceremony at the National Museum in Phnom Penh. The artifacts arrived on July 3, completing the MET's removal of all its Angkorian sculptures linked to Douglas Latchford. This is the most significant return from the Met since 2013 when two 10th-century statues were sent back. The returned items include a 10th-century stone sculpture of the goddess Uma and a bronze Bodhisattva Avalokiteshvara. The Ministry of Culture and Fine Arts had located Uma's foot at the Koh Ker temple complex in 2021, confirming the body had been looted in 1997.
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