Colombia says 25 pre-Columbian pieces to be auctioned in Germany are cultural heritage

RIO DE JANEIRO, BRAZIL – The Colombian Government assured that 25 of the more than 320 pre-Columbian art objects are expected to be sold at the Gerhard Hirsch auction house in the German city of Munich are theirs, the reason why it asked for the auction to be stopped.

The Chancellery detailed in a statement that the Colombian Institute of Anthropology and History (ICANH) determined that “25 pieces of the auction are part of the Colombian archaeological heritage and, therefore, are subject to the special protection regime provided by the legal system” of the Andean country.

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“By the provisions of Article 72 of the Political Constitution of Colombia and Law 1185 of 2008, the Nation’s cultural heritage is under the protection of the State. To that extent, the archaeological heritage and other cultural assets that make up the national identity belong to the Nation and are inalienable, unseizable, and imprescriptible,” the information added.

Likewise, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs affirmed that “Colombia’s priority is to build bridges of dialogue to promote the restitution of its archaeological heritage”.

INTERNATIONAL PROTEST

On Tuesday, it was known that diplomatic representatives of 11 Latin American countries protested Tuesday in Berlin against the auction of more than 320 objects of pre-Columbian art because it “seriously harms” the fundamental rights of their respective peoples.

The pieces, some of them more than 2,000 years old, are on sale at the Gerhard Hirsch auction house and come, according to the diplomats, from seven Latin American countries, which tried to prevent the deal from taking place.

The representatives of Mexico, Chile, Venezuela, Cuba, Panama, Costa Rica, Guatemala, Peru, Colombia, Ecuador, and El Salvador made an appeal to the press in Berlin in which they said they approached the auction house to request the suspension of the sale and the German authorities to intervene in the matter.

Gerhard Hirsch chose not to answer questions asked by Efe agency and only stressed in a note that “all” items for sale have a certificate of origin that “shows that the objects are legally in Germany.”