Nearly 17 years after it was stolen from a church in a small town in the state of Hidalgo
an polychrome wooden statue with gold-leaf plating of Santa Rosa de Lima has been repatriated to Mexico by US officials
In a ceremony on Wednesday (11 December) at the Museo del Templo Mayor in Mexico City
heritage and greatness of Mexico belong here.” In addition to the three-foot-tall colonial-era statue
six small pre-Hispanic artefacts were also repatriated
They will remain on view in the museum’s lobby for an unspecified duration
The polychrome Santa Rosa de Lima was stolen from a church in the town of Epazoyucan (around 100km northeast of Mexico City) on the day before New Year’s Eve in 2007
It resurfaced almost a decade later in the US
when it turned up for sale at Peyton Wright Gallery in Santa Fe
After authorities in Mexico flagged the stolen object to US authorities
the gallery turned it over to agents from the US Department of Homeland Security
The 17th-century Santa Rosa de Lima statue
along with six small pre-Hispanic artefacts
on display at the Museo del Templo Mayor in Mexico City Photo courtesy Instituto Nacional de Antropología e Historia
Why it took more than seven years for the seized sculpture to be repatriated is unclear. The statue also appears to have sustained some damage in that time: the figure of infant Jesus being held by Santa Rosa de Lima appears to have lost his right arm in the interim, though he had both arms in photographs accompanying reports of the sculpture’s seizure in 2017.
As of press time, a spokesperson for Mexico's Instituto Nacional de Antropología e Historia had not responded to questions about the statue's ultimate destination and whether it would undergo restoration work.
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