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Looted | Storyteller

Explore the global pursuit to reclaim Asia's looted ancient treasures from private collectors and the world's most prestigious museums.

Since the colonial era, thousands of priceless artefacts have been looted from countries across Asia. Most are kept behind glass or on pedestals in some of the world’s most prestigious museums and art collections.

Across Asia, a movement is growing. A new generation of activists, archaeologists, and social media sleuths are working to get priceless stolen artefacts back. They are gathering first-hand testimonies from looters, with photographic and forensic evidence to prove when and where they were stolen. Others are putting political pressure on museums using social media to name and shame them and demand the return of the looted statues.

Episode 1

Different groups of social media activists fight to reclaim stolen artefacts from museums and private collections in the UK, the US and France. In India, an already well-established group of online sleuths has put pressure on the Ashmolean Museum in Oxford to return an invaluable bronze statue to a temple in Tamil Nadu. It was believed to have been stolen in the 1950s.

A British auctioneer in London attempts to sell a highly contentious silver flask taken from China. And a growing group of Nepali activists are pushing to make themselves heard on the world stage, with demands on Twitter to stop the sale of stolen Nepali artefacts in France.

Will the Nepal campaign go viral? Will the Indian activists gather enough evidence to start an investigation into the religious statue sitting at the museum in Oxford? And will China step in to prevent the sale of a valuable piece at an auction in London?

[NOTE: Looted - Episode 1 available until March 4, 2024.]

Episode 2

Across Cambodia, Thailand, London and New York, investigators are on the hunt for evidence to reclaim ancient artefacts now housed in prominent museums around the world.

Hot on the trails of an infamous art dealer who plundered sacred temples for decades, a team of lawyers, archaeologists and researchers in Cambodia are unearthing ancient ruins and seeking out former looters to help bring over 2,000 looted Khmer statues back home.

In London, an amazing discovery by an art historian-turned-sleuth sends a retired archaeologist and his wife across Thailand in search of evidence that could force the Met Museum in New York to return one of its most famous statues.