After a three-year investigation by Homeland Security Investigations (HSI), two hand-carved lintels from ancient temples in Thailand were returned to the Thai government during a joyous.
Homeland Security Investigations return two hand-carved lintels from ancient temples in Thailand to Thailand after ceremonies and prayers at the Royal Thai Consulate-General in Los Angeles
A sandstone lintel from Khao Lon Temple in northeastern Thailand from around 975 to 1025 Photo: Asian Art Museum
The Asian Art Museum of San Francisco has breathed a sigh of relief, as a civil complaint brought against them by the Department of Justice regarding two ancient Thai artefacts has been settled by a US district court in California, on the condition that the works be returned.
“We are disappointed that the Department of Justice felt the need to go through this performative legal exercise,” says the museum’s director Jay Xu in an email. “The return of these pieces has been long underway, and this legal process served only to expend public resources and to cloud the respectful and serious process of deaccession and repatriation.” Because the museum s collection is owned by the city of San Francisco, city attorneys represented the institution during the court case.
The Asian Art Museum of San Francisco agreed Wednesday to return two ancient relics allegedly stolen from temples in Thailand, ending a months-long legal tussle with the federal government. The Justice Department sued the museum in October, demanding the return of two 1,500-pound hand-carved window decorations, known as lintels, that it said were removed from Thailand without permission in the 1960s. Following four months of negotiations, the.