Panama demands return of cultural heritage on auction block

The Government of Panama demanded on Saturday the repatriation of seven pre-Columbian pieces that will be auctioned in Germany, which belong to the cultural heritage of the country and which would have been the object of illicit traffic.

These seven pieces are in the catalog of an auction by Dr. Francisca Bernheim that will take place on September 21at the Gerhard Hirsch Nachfolger auction house, located in Munich, Germany, said the Ministry of Culture of

“We denounce to UNESCO the auction” that will be held next Tuesday in the German city, “and we require that the Panamanian archaeological pieces found in the catalog of the collection be repatriated to our country”, declared the Ministry of Culture in a release.

The Panamanian Office of Culture expressed that “it is of great concern that in an illegal way” the Panamanian

“Pre-Columbian Heritage” “ is not sale, since the Political Constitution of the country protects them by decreeing that both the objects and the archaeological sites belong to the State.