A Norwegian businessman has agreed to return two Khmer artifacts from his personal collection to the Cambodian government, according to a statement released by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs on Friday.
Morten Bosterud, the head of a chiropractic and acupuncture clinic in Oslo, is giving back 11 works of art, including a 9th-century “Head of Shiva,” a late 12th-century “Head of a Male Divinity,” and nine other pieces that the Ministry of Culture determined were not genuine antiquities, the statement said.
Mr. Bosterud is scheduled to hand over the pieces to Foreign Minister Hor Namhong in a ceremony at the National Museum on Tuesday.
“After the handover ceremony, Mr. Morten Bosterud will be awarded with the Grand Cross of the Royal Order of Cambodia by Her Excellency [Culture Minister] Pheoung Sackona at the Ministry of Culture and Fine Arts in appreciation for his gift of Cambodian Artifacts to the Royal Government of Cambodia,” the statement said.
It did not say how Mr. Bosterud acquired his antiquities or why he decided to return them.
