The Cambodian Restitution team

The Cambodian Restitution team, seeking to recover stolen Khmer antiquities from across the globe, are receiving media support from many countries with documentaries currently being produced by the United States and Australia, the recent Dynamite Doug podcast as well as media articles, such as this one in March by the daily morning newspaper de Volskrant in The Netherland, which includes a visit to Kulen mountain; Cambodia is recovering looted art from Western museums. How do they manage that? Their secret: The investigative team teams up with former Temple robbers who regret their actions. Article by Noël van Bemmel, 3 March 2023. The feet of the graceful goddess still lie somewhere on a sacred mountain in northern Cambodia. Her head and forearms probably too. But the rest of the elegant statue can be admired by everyone in room 249 of the renowned The Metropolitan Museum of Art (The Met) in New York. Headless female figure, the museum's website states, "late 9th century, a gift from 1995." “So that is suspicious,” says American lawyer Bradley J. Gordon, who has lived in Cambodia for sixteen years. He flips open his laptop in the back of a van on a seven-hour drive north. As the leader of the national looted art research team, Gordon criss-crosses Cambodia. ‘Look, this map was drawn by former temple robber Lion of the place where he says he removed that statue in 1992. We are looking for a large temple ruin with three rooms, somewhere in the jungle south of the mountain village we are now driving to. If we manage to find the feet, or her head, we can prove the Met's origin story false. That this statue has also been stolen.” A day with the art detectives of Cambodia has a high Raiders of the Lost Ark content. Only team leader Gordon is more of an Indiana Jones inverted. Not because the 54-year-old lawyer from Connecticut suffers from a fear of heights, as it turns out, while clambering up the mountain, or because he is afraid of poisonous snakes when he wanders through overgrown temple ruins. No, it's Gordon because he brings art treasures back to the country where they were looted. Sparkling bowls of solid gold, meter-high sandstone statues in the elegant Koh Ker style of the 10th century or richly calligraphed bronze daggers. Special objects from the long series of Khmer kingdoms (9th to 15th century) in which new rulers liked to express their power in new capitals and temples. Many Cambodian art treasures ended up in Western museums or wealthy collectors in the 1980s and 1990s. Although an invasion by neighboring Vietnam ended the genocidal regime of the Khmer Rouge in 1979, a chaotic period of armed struggle between political factions, military involvement by Vietnam, the United States and the Soviet Union and a violent coup began. in 1997 by former army commander Hun Sen. He still rules with an iron fist. “All the while,” says Gordon, “villages in search of quick cash could do as they please in the temples.” At the request of the Cambodian government, Gordon, who speaks Khmer and works pro bono for the Ministry of Culture in addition to his lawyer's job, is negotiating with museums and collectors about restitution. With success: last week 77 crown jewels returned from Great Britain, this spring the country is organizing a festive welcome for dozens of statues returning from the US and Great Britain. Help from an unexpected quarter However, not all owners cooperate. Some museums, such as The Met or the British Museum, argue that Cambodia must prove that their collection has been stolen. Many art dealers prefer to remain silent. For the past few years they have been receiving help from an unexpected quarter. One of the main temple robbers, codenamed Lion, regretted his actions shortly before his death and decided to help. Thanks to a photographic memory, he was able to connect temple ruins with art treasures on Western websites. Lion died at the end of 2021. Today Gordon drives to the Phnom Kulen, a sacred place for many Cambodians where magical water flows and the gods are never far away. White Crane, the code name of a villager involved in the 1990s raids, awaits there. White Crane, it turns out upon arrival, looks more like a friendly village schoolteacher – neat clothes, shiny pen in his shirt pocket – than a savage temple robber. But he, like many of his fellow citizens, was once a child soldier in the service of the Khmer Rouge regime. White Crane leads the way on a sandy path past cashew plantations and through shady lychee forests. “Many Khmer Rouge fighters hid here during the civil war in the 1990s,” says researcher Kunthea Chhoun, who is accompanying the group. “They found ancient temples in the jungle and later returned to dig for gold or cut heads off statues and sell them on the Thai border. Even later, they removed complete statues to order.' White Crane demonstrates how that worked. He puts down a bottle of water – suppose that is the image – and puts three twigs across it. "Tie it and with about ten men you lift it to the oxcart below." British art dealer One name dominates the world of Cambodian art treasures. British art dealer Douglas Latchford (1931-2020) built up a reputation from neighboring Thailand as a connoisseur of ancient Khmer art and author of sturdy coffee table books. The Cambodian government awarded him a knighthood in 2008 for his services to Cambodian art. But not long after, doubts about Latchford's integrity grew. Where did all those beautiful statues and jewels of his actually come from, experts wondered. The US and Cambodia launched an investigation. When the dealer was on his deathbed, he was accused of smuggling stolen art objects and fraud. After his death, he is remembered as Cambodia's greatest looter. Latchford's lavishly illustrated art books now serve as a resource for research. Team leader Gordon taps a well-thumbed copy on his car seat. ‘The catalog of a decades-long raid.’ Post-its stick out of the pages here and there: with a large statue of war god Skanda, seated on a droll peacock and with a playful composition in sandstone of the supreme god Shiva with son. Both from the 10th century and both have since been restored. A second source is Latchford's mail traffic. His daughter transferred thousands of messages to museums, private collectors and fellow dealers. “He was a top seller,” says Gordon, who sifts through every email with his team. 'First, he lent his art treasures to renowned Western museums, and then offered them to collectors for millions. Sometimes he secretly offered their advisers a commission.” Gordon thinks it will take years to investigate the contacts of Latchford and other traders. “But our work is having an effect; dozens of images will be returned this year, that's why we keep it up. After a short climb on the Kulen mountain, the team reaches a temple ruin from the 9th century with a fabulous view. The Red Temple (Prasat Kraham) is probably the highest ruin in the country. “Wonderful, isn't it?” says Gordon, pointing to a linga, a phallic symbol of Hindu mythology that has stood there for more than a thousand years. While he talks to a temple guard about missing statues, his Cambodian employees begin to pray and empty water bottles over the linga. Then they catch the holy water again at the side, as more than forty generations before them did, and sprinkle it over each other's heads for blessing. Living images How many ancient Khmer statues have disappeared from Cambodia? Gordon estimates about four thousand pieces, more or less evenly divided between museums and private individuals. Latchford's daughter returns about two hundred art treasures to Cambodia – there is still discussion about the transport of the rest of her collection – other major owners are The Met with about two hundred sculptures and the Musée Guimet in Paris, which has about three hundred collected images when Cambodia was a French protectorate (1863-1953). For most Cambodians it doesn't matter if an image was obtained honestly or stolen: they want them all back. “As far as we are concerned, these statues are alive,” says deputy director Soda Sok of the National Museum in Phnom Penh. He points to the meter-high statues around him of gods with smiling human faces, but also with elephant and horse heads. "They look at us, they smile at us, they have a heart that beats." According to Sok, all those images abroad struggle with homesickness and want to go home as soon as possible. Going back to their original place, as many Cambodians would like, will be difficult, he says. “Many temples no longer have roofs or are not guarded.” On the steps of the museum, the young monk Chhan Rithseyha is excited about the imminent return of dozens of statues. “Our Khmer ancestors put a lot of time and blood into those images for generations to come. Great, then, that we can see it again!” Pagoda-mate Chea Sim thoughtfully rearranges his orange-red monk habit and says in a low voice: “I also feel sorry for the Cambodians who stole the statues and sold them to foreigners; they also sold their souls.” According to Gordon, some museums are allowed to keep a looted work of art on loan. As an example, he cites an English university library that immediately offered to return a statue. With the kind request to leave the image on loan for an exhibition about the great Cambodian art theft. “We thought that was a good idea.” The Victoria & Albert Museum in London and the Smithsonian in Washington are also adopting a cooperative attitude, he says. The curators of the Musée Guimet are amazed that their colonial collection was built up legally when France was the boss in Cambodia. Gordon: 'We will first focus on The Met, where the curator worked closely with Latchford, the rest will come later.' Pedestal So his team walks briskly up the Kulen mountain, looking for the pedestal of the Headless Woman. White Crane eventually leads them to a clearing in the jungle. Sunlight falls on a crooked temple ruin of red brick, where a green bush protrudes here and there. It looks like a set from the Disney movie The Jungle Book. An old temple guard wakes up with a start under his lean-to. The entire mountain is now a UNESCO World Heritage Site, but hardly anyone goes that deep into the forest. Gordon immediately holds a photo from room 249 in front of him. “Have you seen this image here before?” The man looks around anxiously and remains stubbornly silent. Gordon pulls out the drawn map of Temple Robber Lion. He examines remnants of temple walls on the forest floor. “Well, that could have been three rooms, but it could also have been four.” The temple room is painfully empty, except for a few large, tunnel-shaped webs of tarantulas. Investigator Chhoun finds a large pedestal of gray stone further on. “It could have had that image from The Met on it.” Around her, the forest floor is littered with ancient bricks and broken fragments full of mysterious symbols. Next time, Gordon suggests, an archaeologist from the ministry will come along. The researchers are not allowed to dig into the ground themselves, let alone dig for antiquities. No matter how tempting. “That is a separate profession. But we can organize an excavation here.” © 2023 DPG Media B.V.