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Peru Culture Ministry receives over 1,700 repatriated cultural artifacts

17:37 | Lima, Sep. 20.

Peru's Foreign Affairs Minister Nestor Popolizio officially handed over more than 1,700 cultural heritage items —repatriated from Argentina, Australia, Colombia, Ecuador, the United States, the Netherlands, the United Kingdom, Sweden, and Switzerland— to Culture peer Patricia Balbuena on Thursday.

The recovery of this significant number of pieces —part of Peruvian history— was made possible thanks to coordinated efforts of Peruvian embassies and consulates in such countries, as well as the valuable help of Culture Ministry and local authorities.

During the ceremony, Popolizio stressed that more than 7,000 cultural heritage artifacts have been repatriated over the past eight years, including the emblematic Sican Mask, which was sent back to Peru from Germany after nearly 20 years of judicial proceedings.

Other highlights include a Moche textile, returned by the National Museum of Ethnology in Leiden (the Netherlands), as well as "Creation of Eve" —a painting stolen from Virgen del Rosario Chapel in Hualahoyo (Junin region) in 1992— and the portrait of "Santa Barbara" from Cusco School —a Roman Catholic artistic tradition based in Cusco.

The event was attended by diplomats from the aforementioned nations, whom the foreign affairs minister thanked for their governmental cooperation.

Finally, Popolizio reiterated his sector's commitment —in close coordination with the Culture Ministry— to returning pieces that were illegally smuggled out of the Inca country as a result of cultural property illicit trafficking.

(END) NDP/JCC/CVC/RMB/MVB

Publicado: 20/9/2018