Joy in Sa Kaew as US museum agrees to return stone carving to temple
By The Nation

 

 

SA KAEW: -- About 100 local villagers attending a ritual to worship supernatural beings at Praasaat Khao Luon in Sa Kaew’s Ta Phraya district on Sunday were overjoyed to hear that the Khmer temple’s “Thab Lang” stone carving piece would be returned from the United States.

 

The ritual held on Sunday was to apologise for intrusion as the Fine Arts Department planned to demolish surrounding structures around the ancient temple in Tambom Thabrat to make way for restoration, along with the 11th-century Sdok Kok Thom Khmer temple in Khok Sung district.

 

Praasaat Khao Luon’s Thab Lang piece went missing nearly 50 years ago and some visitors last month spotted it as being displayed at an Asian art museum in San Francisco.

 

As it was announced at the ceremony that the museum would return the artefact, provincial governor Klanarong Pongcharoen said he and fellow residents of Sa Kaew were happy and thankful to related agencies and Prime Minister General Prayut Chan-o-cha for helping get the national heritage piece back. 

 

He said they would later develop the site as a tourist attraction for culture and history.

 

Source: http://www.nationmultimedia.com/news/national/30319077

 

-- © Copyright The Nation 2017-06-26

They would later develop the site as a tourist attraction for culture and history. Or call it a National Park enterance fee 400 baht for foreigners free for Thais either way !

 

Why did the US have the stone in the first place?  Who gave it to them? Did they steal it?

17 hours ago, retarius said:

Why did the US have the stone in the first place?  Who gave it to them? Did they steal it?

 

The Asian Art Museum of San Francisco bought the carving from an art dealer.

 

The art dealer bought the carving from a collector.......

 

...........who bought the carving from an art dealer.......

 

............who bought the carving from a collector.........

 

...........who bought the carving from an art dealer........

 

...........who bought the carving from the thief who stole it.

 

You can add or subtract art dealers/collectors to your liking, but that's how the chain works.

 

Quite often there is not a thief, there is someone who makes works of art which purport to be "ancient".

 

Sometimes there is not one person but a group of people making fake works of art on a production line basis.

 

Syria is quite hot for this at the moment:

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/middle-east/syria-isis-civil-war-antiquities-fakes-palmyra-a7228336.html