Returned Treasures Program - Returned Treasures

Returned Treasures

From 1998 to 2008, the Returned Treasures Program returned major cultural properties back to their countries of origin, as follows: five stelae of the classic Maya kingdom of Copán, from French and Swiss private collectors to Mexico; one frozen high altitude Inca mummy with funerary articles, from Spanish private collector to Peru; six "tumis", ceremonial knives, of pre-Inca Sican culture, from Canadian private collector to Peru; two Aztec codices, from U.S. private collector to Mexico; correspondence, forty-five sketches, and five small oil studies of José María Velasco, from British private collector to Mexico; correspondence and seven oils of Geraldo Murillo, from Japanese private collector to Mexico; and, correspondence and nineteen sketches of Juan O'Gorman. J L Am Anthro History 2008 Sept 15; 76-142.

The Returned Treasures Program helps prevent the destruction of a country's cultural heritage. And, the program's restitution efforts helps solve the theft of important cultural property that arises from the illicit trade of antiquities.

A partial list of the important cultural property acquired by the Returned Treasures Program and rendered back to Mexico and other Latin American countries of origin can be found at an online supplement weblog to the Journal of the Mexico National Museum of Anthropology (Museo Nacional de Antropología) and INAH, the National Institute of Anthropology and History (Instituto Nacional de Antropologia e Historia).