San Francisco’s Asian Art Museum returns statues stolen from Thailand in 1960s

SAN FRANCISCO (KGO) — The San Francisco Asian Art Museum on Monday gave back four religious sculptures stolen from Thailand that ended up in San Francisco for 50 years.

“They will be cared for, and they will be returning home,” said H.E. Dr. Suriya Chindawongse, Ambassador of Thailand to the U.S.

A significant moment bringing together Thailand’s top officials in the U.S. to San Francisco to witness their return.

“Their repatriation not only safeguards an important part of heritage, but it also allows their history to continue as an enduring part of the Thai nation,” said Dr. Chindawongse.

The statues were looted in the mid 1960s from the ruins of a temple in northeast Thailand.

Last year, the Thai government requested the Asian Art Museum to return the statues.

“I would credit Thai scholars and researchers for all this work. What they did was talk to all the villagers who were alive and even the looters who remembered where the objects came and who were the dealers,” said Natasha Reichle, Associate Curator of Southeast Asian Art at the Asian Art Museum.

Investigators shared insights into the statues journey, revealing they were sold to a private collector and museums around the world by an art dealer in London.

The four statues were gifted to the Asian Art Museum by donors. The origin of these statues was questioned early on.

“In the 1960s even the curators here expressed doubt whether they were legally removed, and it was really interesting to see that early on people had questions about them, but that time choose to ignore it,” said Reichle

“Why?” ABC7 News reporter Luz Pena asked.

“I think because of attitudes about the art markets about art culture heritage have changed tremendously in the West over the past couple of decades,” said Reichle.

In the last decades interviews with local Thai residents helped confirmed this.

“It’s a big deal for the museum and the collection of the national museum because these are early material that we found in Buddhist sites in northeastern region of Thailand,” said Pat Chirapravati, Repatriation committee of Thailand.

Experts believe there are more statues throughout the world from this village.

The ones that were at the Asian Art Museum will be some of the first to return to Thailand since the looting took place in the mid 1960s.