29 Mar 2016

Headless Hindu god returns home to Cambodia

7:06 am on 29 March 2016

An American museum has returned to Cambodia an ancient statue of a Hindu god stolen some years ago.

Officials from the Denver Art Museum and the Cambodia government marked the handover in a ceremony in Phnom Penh.

The 158cm headless sandstone statue called the Torso of Rama dates back to the 10th Century and was taken from the Koh Ker temple during Cambodia's civil war.

The Denver Art Museum said it had acquired the statue in 1986 from a New York gallery, and said it realised it was looted only after recent discussions with Cambodia.

In January, a French museum returned a 7th Century Hindu statue head to Cambodia 130 years after it was taken.

-BBC