One of the most appreciated pieces in the Museum of America in Madrid, the Quimbaya treasure, which arrived in Spain in the 19th century, is being officially requested by the Government of Colombia. “This gesture, and its desirable result, are framed within international models regarding museum decolonization policies,” says a letter sent by the Colombian Minister of Culture, Juan David Correa, and Foreign Minister Luis Gilberto Murillo. The letter, dated May 9, is addressed to the Minister of Culture of Spain, Ernest Urtasun, and to the Minister of Foreign Affairs, José Manuel Albares. If the return of the Quimbaya collection is possible, writes the Colombian Government, this will have “invaluable implications in vindicating cultural sovereignty, the recognition of the rights of peoples and the comprehensive management of cultural collections.”
For now, no spokesperson for the Ministry of Culture has responded to the Colombian claim, but the letter arrives when the Colombian spokesperson sees a favorable situation. Last January, the Spanish Minister of Culture announced a “review” of state museums “to overcome a colonial framework” and announced the creation of a Directorate of Cultural Rights to support “erased or censored” authors, so this conversation could be part of Urtasun’s plan to review the collections of state museums. However, on the matter of the treasure, the Spanish Government stated in February that “there are no doubts” about Spanish ownership, nor about the legality of its acquisition by Spain. This newspaper has tried without success to obtain a response from Urtasun’s department.
The letter describes that this collection is made up of archaeological goods (ceramics, goldsmiths, lithics and organics from the classic Quimbaya period—which begins 600 years BC—and that they were “looted by local guaqueros and delivered by the Colombian government to the Kingdom of Spain in the year of 1893, ignoring its cultural value for our Nation.”
The letter does not mention who delivered it: former President Carlos Holguín, without the approval of Congress, as was appropriate at the time. “I have the honor to inform you that today I have delivered to Her Majesty the Queen Regent the gold objects that make up the rich collection of Quimbaya antiques sent by the Government as a gift to Spain,” were the words that the president expressed then. For a long time the Colombian Foreign Ministry did not declare that collection as the country’s cultural heritage, which is why, he argued, it had not been delivered illegitimately.
Although it was an offer from Holguín, as it did not have the approval of the legislature, and due to its enormous cultural value, the case became a long legal debate that was settled by the Colombian Constitutional Court in 2017: the judges ordered the Colombian executive officially request the repatriation of the treasure because the delivery was irregular and because the pieces are cultural heritage that cannot be alienated. But neither the government of Juan Manuel Santos (2010-2018) nor Iván Duque (2018-2022) promoted the initiative and took very timid steps to recover the pieces. Only now does Gustavo Petro, a left-wing president who has a more combative speech in support of decolonization initiatives, do so.
At the Museum of America the possibility of return has also been the subject of debate. In conversation with this newspaper in April, the director, Andrés Gutiérrez Usillos, said that they had organized seminars on this topic, with the presence of the Colombian Institute of Anthropology and History. “I am open to reviewing all cases, but not all pieces requested have to be returned,” he said. “We must have criteria in which it is defined whether we are talking about looting, abuse or other situations, since there are groups that have become symbols, but perhaps they are not part of those processes,” he added. Did you consider that there were abuses or plundering in the case of the Quimbaya treasure? “In my opinion, no,” he replied. At that time, the official letter from the Colombian Government requesting the repatriation of the collection had not yet arrived. Now the petition is in Madrid.
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