Thailand will hold a celebratory event tomorrow to welcome back two prominent artefacts, the Golden Boy and the Kneeling Lady, which were stolen from the country almost fifty years ago.
Both items arrived in containers at Suvarnabhumi Airport today and will be transferred to the Fine Arts Department, where the ceremony will be held.
The statues will then be put on public display at the National Museum.
The “Golden Boy” bronze statue was discovered near the Cambodian border, in Ban Yang, in the Lahan Sai district of Buri Ram province, during an archaeological dig at the Prasat Ban Yang ruins over five decades ago.
The other bronze, about 900 years old, features a female figure in a kneeling position, with one knee on the floor, the other straightened and both hands above the head in a “wai” posture.
Both statues were connected to Douglas Latchford, an American antique trader indicted by the New York attorney’s office for illegally trading antiques in 2019 and 2021. The statues were later removed from the New York Metropolitan Museum’s inventory.
