Buddha statue’s torso found at Cambodia’s Angkor temple complex

This torso matches a head found nearly a century ago at the same site. It is believed to be from the 12th or 13th century

Phnom Penh: Archaeologists in Cambodia are celebrating an unexpected find at the country’s centuries-old Angkor temple complex: the torso of a statue of Buddha that matches a head found nearly a century ago at the same site.

The torso, believed to be from the 12th or 13th century, was discovered during a dig by a team of Cambodian and Indian experts last month at Angkor’s Ta Prohm temple. It was found along with 29 fragments that appeared to be part of the same statue.

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It stands at 3 3/4 feet tall and is in the Bayon art style, associated with Angkor’s Bayon temple.

The statue displayed carved jewellery and robe and sash, with a unique left-hand gesture across the chest — “an uncommon representation in Khmer (Cambodian) art.

The statue’s presumed head was discovered at the same temple in 1927 during the French colonial era, and is currently kept at Cambodia’s main National Museum in the capital Phnom Penh.

The torso was found about 50 yards away from the site where the head was discovered, and that an optical electronic scan confirmed they were a match.

Now that only the right hand of the statue remains missing.

The Angkor site sprawls across some 400 sq km, containing the ruins of capitals of various Cambodian empires from the 9th to the 15th centuries.

Scholars consider it to be one of the most important archaeological sites in Southeast Asia. The site is Cambodia’s most popular tourist attraction and in 2024 attracted about a million international tourists.

The excavations aim to organize and preserve the numerous art objects scattered throughout the Ta Prohm complex, highlighting the ongoing efforts to protect and understand Cambodia’s rich cultural heritage.