Archaeology News Online

A Dutch court Friday will hear arguments involving ownership of a 1,000-year-old mummified monk in a case brought against a local collector by Chinese villagers who claim their ancestor was stolen. The human-sized sitting Buddha statue called the “Zhanggong Patriarch,” disappeared from a temple in Yangchun  in late 1995 after being worshipped for centuries [Credit: Reuters] The small eastern Chinese village of Yangchun will square off against a Dutch collector, whom they said bought the stolen Buddha statue containing the remains of a monk in Hong Kong in 1996, a lawyer representing the village said. The human-sized sitting Buddha statue, called the "Zhanggong Patriarch," disappeared from a temple in Yangchun in late 1995 after being worshipped for centuries, Jan Holthuis said. "We are going to present our arguments to a judge to explain why the villagers want their statue back," he told AFP. Missing for two decades, the Buddha statue resurfaced when villagers in 20...

A Dutch court Friday will hear arguments involving ownership of a 1,000-year-old mummified monk in a case brought against a local collector by Chinese villagers who claim their ancestor was stolen. The human-sized sitting Buddha statue called the “Zhanggong Patriarch,” disappeared from a temple in Yangchun  in late 1995 after being worshipped for centuries [Credit: Reuters] The small eastern Chinese village of Yangchun will square off against a Dutch collector, whom they said bought the stolen Buddha statue containing the remains of a monk in Hong Kong in 1996, a lawyer representing the village said. The human-sized sitting Buddha statue, called the "Zhanggong Patriarch," disappeared from a temple in Yangchun in late 1995 after being worshipped for centuries, Jan Holthuis said. "We are going to present our arguments to a judge to explain why the villagers want their statue back," he told AFP. Missing for two decades, the Buddha statue resurfaced when villagers in 20...