Once underway, this major project was widely acclaimed by the national and international press, drawing new attention to the National Museum and the importance of its collections. The Cambodia Daily noted aptly, in 2005: “In the National Museum’s basement, order emerges from the chaos. ’A full-page article, entitled, ‘National Museum Inventory Project: Phnom Penh’ appeared in the London-based art newspaper Asian Artin October 2005, with Deputy Director Hab Touch commenting that he believed the project represented a major step forward for the institution, which until then had an incomplete knowledge of what was contained in its collection, and of what was missing. The International Herald Tribune titled its story, ‘A Belated Rescue of Cambodia’s Past.’