At completion of October, Berlin’s Prussian Cultural Institute (SPK) introduced that 3 products utilized in spiritual routines get on the course to being reimbursed to the native Kogi individuals of Colombia’s Sierra Nevada de Santa Maria hills. The products to be returned consist of a team, a basket and an additional woven product. All are utilized in spiritual routines still carried out today by the Kogi.
The 3 products are presently at Colombia’s sociology and background institute, ICANH, on a funding basis. Research is being carried out by Kogi reps and in December, the official restitution agreement is readied to be written.
Back in 2023, the SPK returned 2 Kogi routine masks at the demand of reps of the Indigenous company Gonavind úa Tayrona and ICANH. The masks gone back to the 15th century and had actually remained in the gallery’s property for greater than 100 years, since ethnologist Konrad Theodor Preuss, the manager of the leader of Berlin’s Ethnological Museum, had actually purchased them. Preuss had actually dealt with the Kogi individuals for 3 months and obtained the wood products from the kid of a departed Kogi clergyman in 1915.
After the masks’ return over a year back, Kogi lobbyists asked for the 3 extra routine products likewise be returned because of their significance in spiritual events. Exactly exactly how Preuss obtained these certain products stays vague; he gathered a tiny collection of Kogi items throughout his time with them, of which 80 have actually been protected up until today.
Around 20,000 Kogi individuals reside in the forest of Colombia’s Sierra Nevada de Santa Marta hills, and have actually maintained their society active for the last 500 years. The Kogi, that describe themselves as Kágaba, are the biggest undamaged people in Colombia and live a way of living extremely harmonic with nature.
Cooperation is essential
Professor Lars-Christian Koch, supervisor of Berlin’s Ethnological Museum and the Museum of Asian Art, took a trip to Colombia in October and consulted with Kogi leaders that had actually boiled down from the Sierra Nevada to see the products firsthand.
“It was just me and another ethnologist and two Kogi representatives sitting there and discussing the details of the items — it was a very open situation,” Koch informed DW. “This is the first step: to just look at the items and see what to do next.”
During the conference, the feature of among the woven, basket-like items entered inquiry. It was initially believed to be a headpiece, yet might really have actually been utilized as a basket– a factor Kogi lobbyists are currently investigating prior to the main lawful restitution procedure occurs in December.
For Koch, working together with Indigenous areas such as the Kogi, in addition to various other stakeholders, such as federal governments and organizations, is the initial and essential action to any kind of possible restitution scenario. Without close teamwork, errors can conveniently be made, he states. “We need the perspectives of both sides. In this case, Koch explained, the museum hadn’t understood how important the items were in the Kogi’s spiritual rituals, which are still actively practiced today.”
Colombia desires products back
Colombia has actually been extremely energetic recently when it concerns asking for the return of social products from galleries and personal collections worldwide. The nation has actually revived thousands of products in 2024 alone.
In September, Colombia repatriated 115 historical artefacts from personal enthusiasts in theUnited States The artefacts consist of pre-Columbian Indigenous masks, clay porcelain figurines, and ceramic flower holders. Daniel Garcia-Pe ña, Colombia’s ambassador to the United States, called the return a “clear example of international cooperation” and required various other enthusiasts to return products to Colombia to protect the nation’s social heritage.
“The majority of the objects will remain in the collections of museums nationwide,” stated Elizabeth Taylor Jay, vice priest for multilateral events in theColombian Foreign Ministry “We have a protocol in place to transport these objects, to ensure their conservation and safety, as well as their preservation once in the country,” she informed Colombian paper “El Tiempo.”
Germany’s restitution background
While the restitution of art appropriated by the Nazis has actually been a famous subject in the previous years, Germany has actually likewise been reimbursing a variety of various other products, consisting of those drawn from previous European nests.
In 2022, numerous German galleries, consisting of the Humboldt Forum, signed up with pressures to return over 1,130 products toNigeria The beneficial products– sculptures and alleviations constructed from bronze and brass, in addition to jobs constructed from cream color, reefs and timber– were swiped from the previous Kingdom of Benin by the British in a ruthless vindictive exploration in 1897.
Unlike top-level reimbursed products like the looted Benin Bronzes, the Kogi’s routine products are stated to have actually been legitimately gotten, although Koch mentions that Pruess possibly understood getting the products was fairly troublesome because of their spiritual condition and the reality they were utilized in routine events. The problems around the intended acquisition likewise stay unidentified.
“The Kalguakala [masks] are of total importance to us as they are sacred,” Arregoc és Conchacala Zalabata, an agent of the Kogi, informed the Guardian in 2023. “They are not a historical artifact; they are alive. With the masks, we perform ceremonies to connect and work with the spirit of the sun, the waters, the mountains and the world’s many species.”
Setting the tone
Could the return of the allegedly bought products send out a message to various other galleries around Europe? The British Museum, for instance, has actually long avoided returning the “Parthenon Marbles” to Athens partially by saying they were gotten legitimately in the 19th century.
Koch describes that restitution choices are made on a case-by-case basis and constantly together with all companions in a provided scenario. “It’s not something we are deciding only from here [Germany],” he mentions. In the situation of the Kogi products, the reality that they are still proactively utilized in spiritual routines indicates their return is essentially particular, he stated.
Collaboration is essential when it concerns finding out exactly how to disentangle a thing’s usually difficult past, Koch states. “For example, we have documents our partners don’t have and they have histories we don’t have. Understanding through collaboration means they’re extending their perspective and we are also extending ours.”
Edited by: Cristina Burack
