Seven months after Colombia formally demanded the return of the Quimbaya Treasure from Spain, its Minister of Culture, Juan David Correa, tells elDiario.es that all the response they have received is “absolute silence”: “We consider that it would be interesting “That a progressive Government would give us an answer.” Hence, they are going to send “a new letter in the coming days” to the department led by Ernest Urtasun – who has been demonstrating his commitment to decolonizing Spanish art galleries since the beginning of the year – to insist on their request. The Quimbaya Collection is a jewel made up of 121 golden pieces that is exhibited in the Museum of America in Madrid.
“Until now we have maintained very calm, open and generous manners and forms, but the fact that we have not been responded to yet borders on another type of behavior that is not right,” says the minister. “Given the absolute lack of response, if nothing still happens, it will be the Foreign Ministry that will make decisions together with the Ministry of Culture and the President of the Republic,” he adds.
Juan David Correa assures that they do not agree with “continuing dealing with” the request for the return of the Quimbayas Treasure “without giving any type of response, not even saying that they are not going to analyze it.” “We are not going to stop insisting because it is our dignity. The collection was given in a spurious manner and belongs to towns in Quindío, Colombia,” he states.
The minister insists that, given that the decolonization of museums is an issue on which a debate has been opened at a global level: “We need these conversations to happen. That we continue without an answer is strange to say the least.” “This is a call for us to act as progressives, to talk about colonization, to have a horizontal dialogue between cultures and for this not to become matters of revenge, violence and anger. “There’s no reason.” This newspaper has tried to contact the Spanish Ministry of Culture, but has not received a response.
This is a call for us to act as progressives, to talk about colonization, to have a horizontal dialogue between cultures and to ensure that this does not become issues of revenge, violence and anger.
Juan David Correa
— Minister of Culture of Colombia
Juan David Correa appeared this Wednesday at the political control session on the Quimbaya Collection held in the Second Commission of the Senate of Colombia. In it, the representative of the Green Alliance Party, Carolina Giraldo, has “vehemently urged the State to initiate actions for the repatriation” of the pieces currently housed in the Museum of America in Madrid.
What is the Treasure of the Quimbayas?
The so-called Treasure of the Quimbayas is made up of 121 golden pieces that the then Colombian president Carlos Holguín gave to Queen María Cristina at the end of the 19th century; in gratitude for having interceded in a border conflict between his country and Venezuela. The gift was not without controversy, given that Holguín gave it to Spain without the authorization of the Colombian Congress.
“The collection is made up of archaeological goods (ceramics, goldsmiths, lithics and organics) associated with the Quimbaya Classic period that were looted by local huaqueros and delivered by the Colombian government to the Kingdom of Spain in 1893, ignoring their cultural value for our Nation,” They explained in the letter with which they demanded their return on October 11. Thus they justified the reason why they made this request, “aware of what it implies and recognizing the effort that the Spanish authorities have made for its conservation and protection.”
Your request is also supported by a judgment issued by the Constitutional Court of Colombia in 2017, which described the aforementioned donation as illegal: “The transfer of the Quimbaya Collection violated clear norms of the Political Constitution of 1886 then in force.” The text contained the order to begin the repatriation, which the Colombian Government had not implemented until now. The existence of this sentence is one of the reasons why the Green Alliance party insists that Juan David Correa take measures.
Urtasun’s commitment to decolonize museums
It was at the beginning of 2024 when the Spanish Minister of Culture Ernest Urtasun announced that he would carry out a “review” of the collections of state museums to “establish spaces for dialogue and exchange that allow us to overcome the colonial framework.” Their commitment reached the ears of the Colombian Government, which therefore decided to demand the return of the Quimbaya collection in May.
Meanwhile, in Spain, we had to wait until August to learn about the first steps of the plan to decolonize the Urtasun art galleries, which for the moment will only affect two of the collections: those of the Museum of America and the National Museum of Anthropology. . The administration has created two advisory groups that will prepare a technical report that, as indicated, “will serve as the basis for the drafting, in 2025, of the preliminary draft of the new permanent exhibitions” of both centers.
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