After a decade-long legal process in the courts of Munich, the capital of the German state of Bavaria, two 3,000-year-old Olmec wooden busts from the El Manatí archaeological site in Veracruz were presented to the media and specialized public.
The artifacts were handed over to Mexican Ambassador Rogelio Granguillhome and María Villarreal Escárcega, National Coordinator of Legal Affairs at the National Institute of Anthropology and History (INAH), at the Bavarian State Archaeological Collection in Munich.
After the Bavarian State Investigation Bureau seized the two Olmec busts from Leonardo Patterson in 2008, Mexico began legal proceedings to recover them. It obtained a favorable ruling in 2015 from Munich Regional Court 1 (file no. 23 O 19756/14), which was appealed unsuccessfully before the pieces' repatriation was ordered in 2017.
Mexico's successful claim sets a precedent in Germany for protecting its archaeological heritage that could be used in other cases.
Mexico thanks the Bavarian State Archeology Collection for its hospitality and for storing the Olmec artifacts in its conservation workshop, where the busts were made ready for their return. Mexico reaffirms its commitment to protecting and conserving its cultural heritage.
