Switzerland has returned a large stone-carved head to Peru, dating back about 2,500 years, and belonging to one of the country’s ancient civilizations, according to what the Swiss Cultural Office announced.
The sculpture, which weighs about 200 kilograms, was brought to Switzerland by truck in 2016 from Germany at the request of a German art dealer, reports Al-Rai daily quoting AFP.
Switzerland’s Federal Office of Culture said in a statement that the sculpture had not been properly declared as a cultural asset. It was later confiscated because there were “verified suspicions” that it was taken illegally from Peru.
The ornate stone carving was presented by Karen Bachmann, head of Switzerland’s Federal Office of Culture, to Peruvian Ambassador Luis Alberto Castro Jo at the Basel-Waiil am Rhein-regional customs office, where the piece was found seven years ago.
After its discovery, specialists in the Swiss Federal Office concluded, after examining the piece, that “the stone head dating back to 2,500 years in the time of the pre-Spanish Chavín civilization (about 1200 to 550 BC), had its original source in present-day Peru,” according to the office’s statement yesterday.
“This makes it an important piece of cultural property that should have been declared as such upon import,” the statement added.
The office said pre-Columbian artifacts, such as the returned stone head, are among the most endangered categories of cultural property in Peru.
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