Two stone shrines and a temple in the village of Bungmati, Nepal, above an ancient spring, were once home to a sandstone statue of Shreedhar Vishnu, flanked by Hindu goddess Laxmi and winged demigod Garuda.

Crafted nearly a thousand years ago by master artisans, the statue was considered a protective figure and worshipped by locals.

Tradition dictated that mustard oil be applied to the statue to aid safe childbirth. In the early 1980s, thieves stole the 20-inch statue, leaving the community in despair.

A wealthy American collector donated the statue to the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York, where it remained for 30 years.

In 2021, an anonymous Facebook account called the Lost Arts of Nepal identified the statue, and the Met has since removed it from its collection, suggesting it may be returned.

The damage done to the Bungmati community is irreversible, as each stolen statue erodes culture and traditions.

The Met’s acquisition practices have come under scrutiny by the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists and other media partners, who have raised concerns over the origin of the museum’s collection of ancient relics. The Met’s response to these concerns will have far-reaching consequences.

‘The Met has it all’

The Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City, which opened its doors to its own building in 1880, is facing scrutiny over its collection of Antiquities.

While the museum has voluntarily returned some items, prosecutors have seized others that were linked to looters and traffickers.

A review of the museum’s catalog by reporters found that at least 1,109 pieces previously owned by people who had been either indicted or convicted of antiquities crimes, with 309 of them on display.

Fewer than half of the 1,109 relics have records describing how they left the country of origin, even those that come from places that have had strict export laws for decades.

Additionally, hundreds of antiquities in the Met’s collection have no records going back to a country of origin, making it difficult to know whether they were stolen and illegally sold before being acquired by the museum.

The Met has defended its acquisition practices and stated that it is committed to the responsible collecting of art and ensures that all works entering the collection meet the laws and strict policies in place at the time of acquisition.

Experts in the antiquities trade are concerned about the potential impact on the art industry following investigators’ interest in the collections of the Metropolitan Museum of Art and increased media coverage. They are questioning how many more pieces in the museum’s catalog may be at risk of confiscation.

As Tess Davis, the executive director of the Antiquities Coalition, an organization that opposes the trafficking of cultural artifacts, notes: “The Met sets the tone for museums around the world. If the Met is letting all of these things fall through the cracks, what hope do we have for the rest of the art market?”

‘We all believe the stuff was illegally dug up’

The former director of the Met, Thomas Hoving, is widely credited with transforming the museum into a world-class institution.

In his memoir, Hoving describes how his decade of aggressive acquisition drew upon an array of illicit sourcing.

He writes that being an accomplice to art smugglers was a necessary role for a Met director.

Hoving approved the purchase of a large batch of Indian and Cambodian antiquities that he suspected had been smuggled.

Hoving allegedly hid diary entries detailing his misgivings about the origins of a stolen Greek ceramic work in case prosecutors came looking for evidence.

And when Turkish authorities asked for the return of allegedly stolen relics from the Met, he made a striking admission of guilt to a fellow curator.

In an interview, former Metropolitan Museum of Art director Thomas Hoving stated that he expressed his belief that the East Greek treasure was illegally dug up to a Greek curator, adding that if the Turks were to provide evidence from their side, the Met would return the treasure according to their policy.

However, the Met’s lax approach to acquisitions has raised questions about the ethics of their practices. Art crime professor Erin Thompson commented that the museum’s desire to have one of everything and compete with other major museums could lead to dangerous decision-making.

Hoving attempted to change the Met’s practices in the early 1970s, but there is little evidence that the museum tightened its acquisition standards in the following years, leading to a growing number of pieces that could be subject to claims of looting.

The Kardashian connection

The Metropolitan Museum of Art (The Met) is one of the largest and most prestigious art museums in the world.

However, in recent years, it has faced controversy regarding its handling of antiquities in its collection.

In 2018, the museum was found to have acquired an ancient Egyptian coffin that had been looted from Egypt. An investigation by the Manhattan district attorney’s office led to the coffin’s return in 2019.

In September 2021, authorities seized more than a hundred pieces from one of the museum’s billionaire donors, Michael Steinhardt.

Throughout 2022, U.S. authorities seized at least 29 items from the Met’s collection — including Greek busts, Egyptian bronzes, and ancient plates, helmets, and statues. The investigations were primarily focused on individual traffickers, but the Met’s prominent pieces have also been affected.

The Met is not alone in facing criticism over its handling of looted items in its collection. Museums around the world are struggling with how to deal with looted items.

The antiquities market is largely unregulated, and museums and auction houses often fail to conduct due diligence, leading to transactions worth millions of dollars.

As a result, some in the art world are calling for museums to stop buying antiquities altogether.

However, others argue that museums play a vital role in preserving and displaying cultural heritage.

The Met has faced criticism for acquiring pieces from American-born antiquities dealer Robert E. Hecht, who was tried on charges of antiquities smuggling in Italy in the 1950s.

The museum still holds nearly two dozen pieces once owned by Hecht, but it offers no provenance or history of ownership that explains how the pieces left their home countries.

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