Groups in Guatemala demand return of Maya throne sent to New York's Metropolitan Museum of Art
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Loading... - Jasper Cobus
- 29 Mar 2023
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Guatemalan law prohibits the export of such artefacts for exhibition, local culture organisations say.
An ancient Maya throne that travelled to the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York for conservation and to feature in a loan exhibition was wrongfully exported and should be returned immediately, according to a public letter signed by the Guatemalan Collective for the Defence of Heritage and others.
The organisation and Indigenous Guatemalan communities say that Guatemalan law prohibits the export of such artefacts for exhibition, and that the Guatemalan government is breaking the country’s own law by allowing works to be shown outside Guatemala for any length of time.
The Guatemalan government had agreed to a legal exception for a reciprocal loan agreement with the Met, which contained a series of separate agreements relating to the conservation and exhibition of works. Officials granted a rare temporary export authorisation as part of the deal, after which the eighth-century Throne I and a second artefact—a panel of the same period—were transferred to the New York museum in August 2021 by the Museo Nacional de Arqueología y Etnología in Guatemala City specifically for expert restoration.
The Guatemalan government and the Met argue that the collaboration promotes the preservation of cultural heritage. Both works are on display in the exhibition Lives of the Gods: Divinity in Maya Art (until 2 April 2023), after undergoing conservation, and will return to Guatemala when the show closes next year. Read More…
