The Metropolitan Museum of Art has an indefinite loan of ancient stone and bronze statues that were recently repatriated to Yemen from New Zealand.
According to a statement from the New York City museum, the 14 antique sculptures were willingly returned to Yemen from the private Hague family collection in New Zealand. Following their repatriation, Yemen's government requested from the Met that the artifacts be kept, examined, and cataloged in the museum until Yemeni government made a request for their return.
This long-term loan comes after Yemen and the Met formalized a partnership in 2023, which allowed the museum to continue to care for and display two ancient stone works that it repatriated to the republic from its own collection.
Last September, Yemen and the US signed a bilateral cultural property agreement that renews and extends protections for Yemeni cultural property which were put in place in 2020 on an emergency basis.