Secretary of Culture requests to stop auction of pre-Hispanic pieces

Specialists from the National Institute of Anthropology and History (INAH) identified four pre-Hispanic pieces in the lot All the Gold of Empires: Collection of Monsieur Dscheduled to be auctioned today by the French firm Casa Millon, reported the Secretary of Culture, Claudia Curiel de Icaza.

In a new letter addressed to the bidding house in France, the official expressed her “strong disapproval and rejection” on behalf of the federal government. In addition, he invited the company to stop the offering and sale of the objects, “taking into consideration that they represent an invaluable legacy of ancestral cultures and national history.”

Curiel de Icaza announced that the corresponding legal procedures were initiated in order for the assets to be repatriated to Mexican territory. Furthermore, he explained that it was the INAH that made the opinion based on the sale catalog and determined that the advertised material is an archaeological asset.

Last February 26, the same bidding house was singled out by the Ministry of Culture after it offered 40 pieces of Mexican heritage in an auction titled Empires of Lightorganized for the next day.

Despite protests from Mexico and the “My heritage is not for sale” campaign, no sales in France of archaeological assets from our country have stopped in the two recent six-year terms.