The statue at Musée Guimet - before and after her head was found (Photo: Musée Guimet)By John Lichfield in Paris
Published: 19 May 2006
The Independent (UK)
A wife of the Hindu god Shiva, decapitated in Cambodia in the 15th century, finally has her head back, after it was discovered 500 years later on the other side of the world.
A Paris museum dedicated to Asia, the Musée Guimet, is celebrating the implausible chain of events that reunited a divided masterpiece of ninth-century Cambodian art.
The headless body of a wife of the Hindu god of destruction and renewal was found by French archaeologists near the shattered temple of Bakong, amid the celebrated Angkor ruins, in 1935. The statue has been exhibited since 1938 at the Musée Guimet in the Place d'Iéna in Paris, which has the finest collection of ancient Khmer artefacts outside Cambodia.
Last autumn, the museum held an exhibition on Vietnamese art which paid tribute in its catalogue to a retired American diplomat, John Gunther Dean. The catalogue recounted Mr Dean's efforts, as ambassador to Cambodia in the early 1970s, to rescue ancient Khmer art from the ravages of the Khmer Rouge, which was determined to expunge all record of Cambodia's past.
To thank the museum, Mr Dean, now 80, offered a gift from his own collection of ancient Khmer artefacts. Last month, the gift arrived, the sculpted head of a woman found at the Bakong temple site in 1939.
"I asked him for a Khmer head because we only had headless statues but I didn't think for a moment about a possible match," said Pierre Baptiste, the museum's curator for south-east Asian art.
"I brought the head into our [Cambodian] hall looking for a place that it could be exhibited," said M. Baptiste. "I had a sudden notion the two pieces resembled each other but then thought, 'no, things never happen that way'.
"I put the head on the statue's shoulders. It shifted a few millimetres. I heard the little click that you get when two stones fit together and the head fell perfectly into place. It was as if it had put itself together. I still get goose-bumps thinking about it."
The reformed statue, which is 4ft 10in high, was beheaded in the temple when it was destroyed in the 15th century.
A wife of the Hindu god Shiva, decapitated in Cambodia in the 15th century, finally has her head back, after it was discovered 500 years later on the other side of the world.
A Paris museum dedicated to Asia, the Musée Guimet, is celebrating the implausible chain of events that reunited a divided masterpiece of ninth-century Cambodian art.
The headless body of a wife of the Hindu god of destruction and renewal was found by French archaeologists near the shattered temple of Bakong, amid the celebrated Angkor ruins, in 1935. The statue has been exhibited since 1938 at the Musée Guimet in the Place d'Iéna in Paris, which has the finest collection of ancient Khmer artefacts outside Cambodia.
Last autumn, the museum held an exhibition on Vietnamese art which paid tribute in its catalogue to a retired American diplomat, John Gunther Dean. The catalogue recounted Mr Dean's efforts, as ambassador to Cambodia in the early 1970s, to rescue ancient Khmer art from the ravages of the Khmer Rouge, which was determined to expunge all record of Cambodia's past.
To thank the museum, Mr Dean, now 80, offered a gift from his own collection of ancient Khmer artefacts. Last month, the gift arrived, the sculpted head of a woman found at the Bakong temple site in 1939.
"I asked him for a Khmer head because we only had headless statues but I didn't think for a moment about a possible match," said Pierre Baptiste, the museum's curator for south-east Asian art.
"I brought the head into our [Cambodian] hall looking for a place that it could be exhibited," said M. Baptiste. "I had a sudden notion the two pieces resembled each other but then thought, 'no, things never happen that way'.
"I put the head on the statue's shoulders. It shifted a few millimetres. I heard the little click that you get when two stones fit together and the head fell perfectly into place. It was as if it had put itself together. I still get goose-bumps thinking about it."
The reformed statue, which is 4ft 10in high, was beheaded in the temple when it was destroyed in the 15th century.
A Paris museum dedicated to Asia, the Musée Guimet, is celebrating the implausible chain of events that reunited a divided masterpiece of ninth-century Cambodian art.
The headless body of a wife of the Hindu god of destruction and renewal was found by French archaeologists near the shattered temple of Bakong, amid the celebrated Angkor ruins, in 1935. The statue has been exhibited since 1938 at the Musée Guimet in the Place d'Iéna in Paris, which has the finest collection of ancient Khmer artefacts outside Cambodia.
Last autumn, the museum held an exhibition on Vietnamese art which paid tribute in its catalogue to a retired American diplomat, John Gunther Dean. The catalogue recounted Mr Dean's efforts, as ambassador to Cambodia in the early 1970s, to rescue ancient Khmer art from the ravages of the Khmer Rouge, which was determined to expunge all record of Cambodia's past.
To thank the museum, Mr Dean, now 80, offered a gift from his own collection of ancient Khmer artefacts. Last month, the gift arrived, the sculpted head of a woman found at the Bakong temple site in 1939.
"I asked him for a Khmer head because we only had headless statues but I didn't think for a moment about a possible match," said Pierre Baptiste, the museum's curator for south-east Asian art.
"I brought the head into our [Cambodian] hall looking for a place that it could be exhibited," said M. Baptiste. "I had a sudden notion the two pieces resembled each other but then thought, 'no, things never happen that way'.
"I put the head on the statue's shoulders. It shifted a few millimetres. I heard the little click that you get when two stones fit together and the head fell perfectly into place. It was as if it had put itself together. I still get goose-bumps thinking about it."
The reformed statue, which is 4ft 10in high, was beheaded in the temple when it was destroyed in the 15th century.
A wife of the Hindu god Shiva, decapitated in Cambodia in the 15th century, finally has her head back, after it was discovered 500 years later on the other side of the world.
A Paris museum dedicated to Asia, the Musée Guimet, is celebrating the implausible chain of events that reunited a divided masterpiece of ninth-century Cambodian art.
The headless body of a wife of the Hindu god of destruction and renewal was found by French archaeologists near the shattered temple of Bakong, amid the celebrated Angkor ruins, in 1935. The statue has been exhibited since 1938 at the Musée Guimet in the Place d'Iéna in Paris, which has the finest collection of ancient Khmer artefacts outside Cambodia.
Last autumn, the museum held an exhibition on Vietnamese art which paid tribute in its catalogue to a retired American diplomat, John Gunther Dean. The catalogue recounted Mr Dean's efforts, as ambassador to Cambodia in the early 1970s, to rescue ancient Khmer art from the ravages of the Khmer Rouge, which was determined to expunge all record of Cambodia's past.
To thank the museum, Mr Dean, now 80, offered a gift from his own collection of ancient Khmer artefacts. Last month, the gift arrived, the sculpted head of a woman found at the Bakong temple site in 1939.
"I asked him for a Khmer head because we only had headless statues but I didn't think for a moment about a possible match," said Pierre Baptiste, the museum's curator for south-east Asian art.
"I brought the head into our [Cambodian] hall looking for a place that it could be exhibited," said M. Baptiste. "I had a sudden notion the two pieces resembled each other but then thought, 'no, things never happen that way'.
"I put the head on the statue's shoulders. It shifted a few millimetres. I heard the little click that you get when two stones fit together and the head fell perfectly into place. It was as if it had put itself together. I still get goose-bumps thinking about it."
The reformed statue, which is 4ft 10in high, was beheaded in the temple when it was destroyed in the 15th century.
10 comments:
Now the prophecy begins when the head meets the body shall the country regain its rightful place in all its glory. The head of this statue was removed and a curse put upon Cambodia by Thai Shaman invaders who predicted that when the two parts of this statue unites, then Cambodia and the Khmer people will unite.
So long as the head and body is divided shall Cambodia be divided. Now this curse is put to end, CAMBODIA WILL UNITE. REJOICE MY KHMER BROTHERS AND SISTERS REJOICE!!!
It is amazing to read this news article. All I can say is that this is a good story to cheerish for a long time.
So in the 9th century, the female statue was created. Then in the 15th century, her head was decapitated. Then in 1935, the French took her headless body to France. After that in the early 1970s, Mr. John Gunther Dean of United States rescued her head from the Khmer Rouge's ravages. Lastly, in 2006, Mr. Baptiste of France reunited the head and the body of the statue together and found that the two parts were a perfect match.
Wow, from the 15th century to 21th century, the woman statue did stand for 500 hundred years long without her head on her shoulder.
Peace at last.
Hey you two first commends! you make me have a goose bump also!!!!!!!!!!!!
Thank you and may our wish come true!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Hey you two first commends! you make me have a goose bump also!!!!!!!!!!!!
Thank you and may our wish come true!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
"To thank the museum, Mr Dean, now 80, offered a gift from his own collection of ancient Khmer artefacts.". "Mr Dean's efforts, as ambassador to Cambodia in the early 1970s, to rescue ancient Khmer art from the ravages of the Khmer Rouge". Wonder who gave it to him and what else does Mr Dean still have as his own collection for over 30 years. When you are 90, please offer us the rest. Thank you.....
"Wonder who gave it to him and what else does Mr Dean still have as his own collection for over 30 years. When you are 90, please offer us the rest."
Good comment. I have always wondered, why do a lot of Khmer artefacts end up in Western foreign countries? Just the other day, I visited this art museum in Los Angeles, California and found a whole display room of ancient Khmer stone scultures. Even in France, there is a museum that boasts of having the "finest collection of ancient Khmer artefacts". I guess I should be thankful that the foreign collectors are preserving the Khmer artifacts from their complete destruction, but recent news articles indicate that the looting of ancient Khmer artefacts still continues. I guess the vidence reveals the underlying ISSUE of poverty. Just my thought.
Well I am glad that you agree with my personal assessment. But tell that to the Cyclops controlling Cambodia. He thinks that under his leadership everyone is well-off as evidenced by that so-called economic growth rate. What a paradox indeed: Being a patriotic to your country cultural heritages or satisfying your hunger first.
Thanks for the comment.
"When you hungry, you wish you could eat your own tongue. The ancient artifacts were stolen by this desparate poor or cast away people. In order to survive, you must exchange artifacts with goods."
So this opinion above blame the desparate poor or outcasts of Cambodia. Now however, the reality is that according to Heritage Watch founder and director Dr Dougald O'Reilly of Cambodia, "powerful officials are hiring armed looters to pillage the temple of Preah Khan."
So while it is OK to think that the outcasts and the poor have the motive to destroy Cambodia's cultural heritage, one must not rule the greedy "powerful officials" at all. It seems that with their resources at their disposal, they are the most competitive looters of Cambodia's cultural artifacts.
12:23 thank to the facts, that is the way to rebuild our cambodian spirit, to know we have our friends out there. Not all cambodian stupid liked Ah Hun Sen and tugs.
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