About André Malraux's Infamous Expedition to Banteay Srei

In December 1923, with a written recommendation signed by French Minister Albert Sarraut and in spite of serious reservations from George Groslier, the founder of Phnom Penh National Museum, André Malraux and his wife, Clara, visits Banteay Srei and attempts to loot several statues from the temple.

This incident has been widely studied, for instance here or in Walter Langlois' The Indochina Adventure (Pall Mall Press, London, 1966). In 1998, Belgian researcher Raoul-Marc Jennar discovered the letter Malraux, then under house-arrest at the Phnom Penh Manolis Hotel, addressed to the French Résident-Général, in order to have the case against him dismissed.