Mexico recovers 2,522 pre-Hispanic objects from individuals in Spain

Mexico has recovered 2,522 pre-Hispanic objects from a family in Barcelona (Spain), the left-wing government announced on Tuesday, which has made the recovery of national heritage dispersed abroad the major focus of its cultural policy.

The collection -1,371 complete objects and fragments- will be exhibited from Tuesday at the Templo Mayor museum in the historic center of Mexico City, under the supervision of the National Institute of Anthropology and History (INAH), the arm armed with the heritage preservation policy.

"This is the most important restitution of archaeological pieces by individuals

," said Foreign Minister Marcelo Ebrard during the usual press conference of President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador.

,” he added.

, welcomed President Lopez Obrador mentioning

.

Stone-cut figures, arrowheads and vases are part of the collection.

, recounted to AFP the director of the Templo Mayor museum, Patricia Ledezma.

Lopez Obrador's government has recovered 8,970 pre-Hispanic objects since taking office in December 2018, according to Minister Ebrard.

Mexico regularly opposes the auctioning of objects from the Mesoamerican cultures that occupied its territory, from the Olmecs to the Aztecs to the Mayas.

The current government considers that this heritage has been taken out of the country illegally since the 19th century.

Auction houses and foreign governments ask Mexico to prove that the archaeological pieces belong to it, explained Mr. Ebrard.

But Mexico has at times managed to push its thesis that it's up to sellers to

of pre-Hispanic pieces, he added.