CSEAS Friday Lecture Series | The Thousand Year Old Stolen Burmese Buddha Who Traveled The World And The Saga Of Its Return

Catherine Raymond, Associate Professor of Art History, Northern Illinois University

This presentation will profile the return of a rare Buddha image that was stolen from a remote temple in Bagan in 1988 and would travel around the world before finally being returned to its home country in 2012. This long saga, which involved looters, antique dealers, art historians, lawyers, ambassadors and curators, demonstrates the intricate complexities in restituting objects. The priceless sculpture was transported from Myanmar (also known as Burma) to Bangkok, San Francisco, New York, Chicago and Paris. It would be saved from the auction block, before drawing the involvement of the Federal Bureau of Investigation and becoming the subject of a precedent setting lawsuit for antiquities.