The city and county of San Francisco have agreed to return a pair of religious relics to Thailand under a settlement reached with the United States, authorities said.
Originally part of ancient Thai temples, the hand-carved 1,500-pound lintels were allegedly illegally exported to the United States more than 50 years and donated to the Asian Art Museum of San Francisco, the U.S. Attorney’s Office said in a news release.
In October, a three-year investigation by Homeland Security Investigations culminated in prosecutors filing a civil complaint to forfeit the relics. The museum and the city, which owns the museum’s art collection, consented to return the relics on Wednesday.
“The successful outcome of this investigation helps restore Thailand’s cultural heritage for the appreciation and study of this and future generations,” said Homeland Security Investigations Special Agent in Charge Tatum King in a statement.
“The theft and trafficking of cultural artifacts is a tradition as old as the cultures they represent,” King continued. “Returning a nation’s precious cultural antiquities promotes goodwill with foreign governments and citizens, while significantly protecting the world’s cultural history and knowledge of past civilizations. Through our work in this investigation in partnership with the U.S. Attorney’s Office in the Northern District of California, we have diligently sought to ensure the relationship between the United States and Thailand remains one of mutual respect and admiration.”
Museum officials also expressed satisfaction with the settlement.
“We are very pleased that these lintels are going back to their country of origin,” said Asian Art Museum Director and CEO Dr. Jay Xu in a statement. “This settlement will allow us to do what we have been wanting to do for some time – return the lintels to Thailand.”
In a news release, the museum said the civil complaint came as a surprise because prosecutors were already aware of its plans to return the relics, and litigation could have slowed those efforts.
The museum also disputed allegations the relics had been illegally exported, saying prosecutors “presented no affirmative evidence of that fact.”
“The museum has agreed to the end goal of returning the lintels to their country of origin without agreeing to the DOJ’s misleading factual allegations,” the news release said.
The relics will be returned through the U.S. Department of Justice’s victim remission program, and upon their return, they will be placed on exhibition for the religious and cultural appreciation of the people of Thailand, according to prosecutors.
“I want to thank San Francisco and the Asian Art Museum for their agreement to forfeit these treasures so they may be returned to Thailand,” said U.S. Attorney David Anderson in the statement.
“The United States is committed to returning stolen relics to nations seeking to preserve their heritage,” Anderson continued. “We will use all our power, including civil forfeiture, to ensure that misappropriated cultural items are returned to their rightful owners.”
