By Madeleine Muzdakis on July 12, 2021
The Minister of Culture and Youth, Sylvie Durán (right), examines some of the newly repatriated artifacts alongside Leidy Bonilla (in white) and Daniela Meneses, from the Heritage Protection Program. (Photo: Museo Nacional de Costa Rica)
After a century away from their Central American home, 1,305 artifacts are returning to Costa Rica. The artifacts—including rare pottery and stone pieces—have long been held in The Brooklyn Museum, a New York institution which gained the pieces from the collection of American railroad tycoon Minor Keith who acquired them in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. This unsolicited return of precious pre-hispanic historical items is a laudatory move as museums struggle with how and when to repatriate items acquired through colonialism, exploitation, and conquest.