The world’s largest collection of Khmer sculpture resides at Angkor, the former royal capital of Cambodia. The 7,000 pieces—full statues, heads and carved inscriptions—are breathtaking not only for their individual beauty, but also for 21 they represent: a road map to the origins of much of Southeast Asian culture. But the collection is not in a museum, and it is not open 22 visitors. It is held in unknown, guarded warehouses 23 only a few people can see it. These people assembled it by removing figures from the ruins of Cambodia’s world-famous temples and replacing them with hollow, concrete 24 . For the most part, these are hard to distinguish from the originals. Clever art thieves? No, these “art thieves” work for the Angkor Conservancy. 25 very large pieces too heavy to move, virtually all surviving Angkorian statues, wood carvings and artifacts have been replaced with copies.
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