Peru: Finding Machu Picchu's gold plaque that was lost is a good sign

Photo: ANDINA/Archive

15:00 | Lima, Jul. 11.

Foreign Trade and Tourism Minister Juan Carlos Mathews on Tuesday highlighted the fact that the lost gold plaque confirming Machu Picchu's status as one of the New Seven Wonders of the Modern World —which was granted by the New 7 Wonders Foundation in July 2007— has been found.

"It is a good sign. It is encouraging news, mainly because it was found promptly," the Cabinet member said as soon as he was informed of the recovery.

The government official said the fact that this property has been recovered is positive because "the longer it takes, the more negative its impact abroad."

This morning, Machu Picchu Mayor Elvis La Torre reported that the aforementioned plaque had turned up.

La Torre, who on Monday reported the loss of said award, as well as a scroll, which was also conferred by the organizers, stressed that said scroll has not yet been found, noting that its search will continue.

"We found the gold plaque an hour ago. It was located on a bookshelf at the General Secretariat (of the Municipality of Machu)," he said in statements to the media.

The local authority explained that after the municipal personnel found the award, it was reported to the National Police, the Public Ministry, as well as the promoter of the "Vote for Machu Picchu" campaign, Moises Bendezu, for him to check the authenticity of the plaque, as he is one of the persons who attended the ceremony in which the awards were delivered back in 2007.

Machu Picchu's top official affirmed that the problem arose because the above-mentioned awards were not designated as heritage properties by the municipal administration in 2007; therefore, they are not considered property of the Municipality, so their whereabouts were unknown.

(END) MAO/RMB/MVB

Publicado: 11/7/2023

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