They are part of the memory and identity of the Nation.
Colombia recovered 180 archaeological pieces that were in Italy and that show the skills of the Calima, Tumaco, Nariño, Tairona, Quimbaya peoples and the Magdalena Medio archaeological region, the Colombian Foreign Ministry reported this Sunday.
The goods, Colombian archaeological heritage, were recovered by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Colombian Embassy in Rome and arrived on the presidential plane from Toulouse on Saturday.
This is the fourth shipment of archaeological goods that Colombia has recovered since the arrival of the Government of Gustavo Petro.
These pieces are historical documents and testimony of the knowledge and skills of the native peoples who manufactured them, the Foreign Ministry explained, adding that “the recovered cultural assets were the object of illicit trafficking and are part of the memory and identity of the Nation.” .
149 pieces were handed over voluntarily by Mr. Vittorio Zampieri in 2007 and thanks to the cooperation of the Italian authorities, especially the Carabinieri, it was possible to seize 29 pre-Columbian pieces confiscated in 2014 and returned to the Embassy in Rome.
An archaeological asset confiscated in the Italian province of Pordenone was also delivered in 2022. The returned pieces will be exhibited at the Palacio de San Carlos, headquarters of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, next week.
In September of last year, 274 items were recovered from the Colombian Embassy in Washington, and in November 76 items arrived from France, the Netherlands, Switzerland and the United Kingdom.
EFE