{"asset":"news","key":"10777","locale":"en","id":"news:10777:en","entityId":"news:10777","canonicalUrl":"https://www.kps-tv.com/en/news/detail/10777","state":"ready","title":"Ancient Artifacts Return Home: Cambodia Receives 18 Khmer Artifacts from Britain","summary":"Cambodia’s Ministry of Culture and Fine Arts said on October 30 that 18 Khmer artifacts were formally handed over to the Cambodian Embassy in the United Kingdom at a ceremony in London, marking the beginning of their return home after years abroad. The artifacts date from approximately the 10th to the 13th century AD and include stone carvings, bronze ritual objects and jewelry fragments.","body":"Cambodia’s Ministry of Culture and Fine Arts said on October 30 that 18 Khmer artifacts were formally handed over to the Cambodian Embassy in the United Kingdom at a ceremony in London, marking the beginning of their return home after years abroad.\n\nThe artifacts date from approximately the 10th to the 13th century AD and include stone carvings, bronze ritual objects and jewelry fragments. They comprise stone sculpted heads in the Baphuon and Bayon styles, a handled bronze Buddha bell, a pedestal dancer statue, a decorative plaque and a bronze ceremonial lamp.\n\nThe artifacts were seized in November 2025 by the Metropolitan Police’s Art and Antiques Crime Unit, with assistance from the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe’s Heritage Crime Task Force. Cambodian experts subsequently examined and confirmed the artifacts’ origins, and Cambodia formally submitted a repatriation request in September 2026.\n\nCambodia has long been affected by conflict and the illicit trafficking of cultural objects, resulting in much of its cultural heritage being dispersed overseas. The Ministry of Culture and Fine Arts said the returned artifacts would undergo professional analysis and research to further understand the history and artistic development of the Khmer Empire, while the country continues to seek the return of other illicitly exported cultural property.","contentScope":"full","proof":{"publishedSourceRevision":"2","publishedWorkingVersionId":"16403","languageVersionId":"13761","visibilityVersion":"6","versionToken":"a1.Ourdt0mapNLDDi6xQPMAu0ZT6eA-GMVWaqXvp9N-4k0"},"availableLocales":["zh","en","km"],"attributes":{"sourceLocale":"zh","translationKind":"machine","nodeId":"172","authorText":"","sourceName":""},"references":[],"links":[],"publishedAt":"2026-10-31T10:40:15Z"}