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Belize is hoping to allocate and customize greater spaces to accommodate dozens of Mayan artifacts that were returned to the country after a tour of several major cities in the United States. Belize had loaned more than 150 ancient Maya artifacts for the “Maya: Hidden Worlds Revealed” exhibition, for more than ten years for the international tour. Yesterday, the media was able to get a firsthand view of some of the returned artifacts at the Museum of Belize. In speaking with the Minister responsible for the National Institute of Culture and History (NICH), Francis Fonseca, the government will have to make it a priority to find the ideal spaces to accommodate the items.
Francis Fonseca, Minister of Foreign Affairs, Foreign Trade, Culture and Immigration: “Our primary mandate is public education. We want to share these artifacts with the people of Belize, especially our young people. They’ve been out there for a long time, so it’s good to have them back home so that we can put them on display, which we will be doing in a few weeks’ time upstairs so that the Belizean people can come and see these artifacts, many of which they have not seen before. So when we talk about, like you rightly said, when we talk about repatriation which has to be something we’re serious about we have to understand that we need space for these things. So it’s nice and romantic to talk about repatriation but we have to put in place the structures, the infrastructure to properly support the preservation of these items. So yes no disagreement. I fully agree with you but we are working on that as a government. It’s a stated goal and objective.”
The collection of artifacts was showcased at the Science Museum of Minnesota (SMM) and other major U.S. cities since 2012. The exhibition, a collaboration between SMM and NICH, concluded in September 2024. As it relates to the monies earned from the international tour, Minister Fonseca explained that there is a trust where the revenues earned are deposited.
Francis Fonseca, Minister of Foreign Affairs, Foreign Trade, Culture and Immigration: “My understanding and I think it would be good to speak to Dr. Badillo, she would know more but my understanding is that yes there is a fund at the Institute of Archaeology where these monies are put into sort of endowment fund so to speak but she would be able to give you more details on that but I know that the monies go to the Institute of Archaeology.”
The returned artifacts include ceramic vessels, jade ornaments, and stone tools, and are now safely housed at Belize’s Institute of Archaeology under NICH’s care, where they will continue to be conserved and studied as part of the nation’s patrimony.
English (US) ·