Phnom Penh’s Finest:
The upcoming and much-anticipated exhibition - Royal Bronzes of Angkor, an Art of the Divine - at the Guimet Museum in Paris will open on 30 April until 8 September 2025. It will host over 200 unique works including 126 pieces loaned specifically from the National Museum of Cambodia. This is a once-in-a-lifetime exhibition of bronzes. To give you a flavour of the bronzes held by the National Museum in Phnom Penh which may be sent to Paris for inclusion - though I don’t know as I am not privy to the list of items - here are what could be termed amongst the top dozen bronzes in the museum’s collection. I’ve included the West Mebon Reclining Vishnu, as it’s already in Paris undergoing extensive renovation ahead of being the exhibition’s centerpiece. Two of the dozen are already on display as part of the travelling exhibition Angkor: The Lost Empire of Cambodia, which will soon open its doors at the Denver Museum of Nature & Science in the USA, so they may not make the journey to Paris. In addition, I have not included any of the recently repatriated bronzes which were amongst the treasures returned from American museums or private collectors in the last couple of years. Let me know which is your favourite bronze at the National Museum, or if you think I’ve left out your own personal choice to make the trip to Europe.Credit By :Andy Brouwer