Spain tries to keep away from a diplomatic battle with Colombia over the Quimbaya treasure | Culture | EUROtoday

The formal request that Colombia made in May of this yr to Spain to return the Quimbaya treasure, a group of 122 pre-Columbian gold items which can be exhibited within the Museum of America in Madrid, has been met with a thick wall of silence. Seven months later, neither the Minister of Foreign Affairs, José Manuel Albares, nor the Minister of Culture, Ernest Urtasun, have responded to the letter despatched to them by their Colombian counterparts, Luis Gilberto Murillo and Juan David Correa, demanding the treasure, in an effort way more decided to get better it than on earlier events when the matter has been mentioned. The Spanish Executive doesn’t wish to open a battle with President Gustavo Petro over the possession of the archaeological items, however authorities sources point out that, in response to a report from the State Attorney’s Office, the gathering was not looted, however moderately donated to the Spanish State, subsequently that the title of possession over them is respectable.

Although Urtasun has advocated enterprise a evaluate of the nationwide museums to “overcome the colonial framework”, the sources consulted point out that the Quimbaya treasure belongs to the nationwide heritage, so the Minister of Culture can not get rid of it. In any case, Madrid needs to keep away from confrontation with Bogotá in any respect prices and advocates reaching a pleasant settlement that might enable, for instance, to switch the items to Colombia for a short lived exhibition. That is the rationale, they add, why Spain has not but responded to the letters of criticism from Petro’s ministers and prefers to discover casual conversations. Although Spanish authorities sources acknowledge that the politicization of the problem in Colombia might make it tough to seek out an settlement, they emphasize that the talks are nonetheless within the preliminary part they usually belief that the dispute is not going to find yourself in courtroom. Bogotá, in any case, doesn’t surrender and is now finalizing a brand new letter of criticism. “I feel obliged to insist,” Minister Juan David Correa instructed EL PAÍS.

The assortment that’s on the middle of the dispute is made up of 122 archaeological items (ceramics, goldsmiths, lithics and natural) belonging to the Quimbaya folks and is at present exhibited within the Museum of America in Madrid, one of many least visited in Spain. . It arrived in Spanish territory in 1892 to be exhibited on the event of the celebrations of the fourth centenary of the arrival of the Spanish to America, and the next yr, in 1893, the Colombian president Carlos Holguín determined to provide it to Queen María Cristina of Habsburg. Lorraine. That present was made with out authorization from Congress, and that’s at this time one of many arguments put ahead by Colombia to allege that the donation has from its origin a vice of nullity.

Minister Correa insists that “this is not a whim,” however moderately compliance with a ruling from the Constitutional Court of Colombia in 2017 that compelled the declare to be offered. “It was a spurious gift, without consultation, given unilaterally without the authorization of the Colombian Congress,” he emphasizes. “I believe that the Spanish Government would ask for it back, of course, if it were the case of one of its cultural assets that had been given under those conditions,” he provides. He doesn’t disguise his discomfort at not having obtained “any type of response” to the letter dated May 9. The second letter through which he’ll reiterate the request to Spain is at present within the workplace of the Minister of Foreign Affairs of Colombia, Luis Gilberto Murillo, who has the authority to ship it to the Spanish Government.

“We are not going to stop insisting, we are not going to stop telling Spain that we need a more horizontal conversation,” Correa emphasizes. For the Colombian Minister of Culture, the request ought to discover fertile floor “in a progressive Government” like that of Spain, through which Urtasun exactly introduced a plan to decolonize museums in the beginning of 2024. In truth, it was that announcement that motivated his Colombian counterpart to formally provoke the declare, one thing that the 2 predecessor governments had not accomplished, who averted compliance with the 2017 ruling: that of Juan Manuel Santos (2010-2018) and that of Iván Duque (2018-2022). “The danger of not having these conversations is allowing the extreme right and extremism to appropriate the cultural narrative, which they do. [que] “They are not willing to accept the complexity of history, but they want to sell a single form of history,” says the minister, alluding to the ultra campaign posters that circulated in the days prior to last October 12, which he presented as “heroes” and “saints” to the colonizers.