The Monolito ‘Portal al Underworld’, sculpted 2,500 years ago, plundered and then recovered, is exhibited in a museum in the state of Morelos, central Mexico and neighboring the capital, the Mexican government secretariat of the Mexican government through the Mexican Government said Tuesday National Institute of Anthropology and History (INAH).
Precisely, the INAH officially delivered monument 9, also known as a portal to the underworld, to the community of Chalcatzingo (Morelos), in whose local museum, newly rehabilitated, the public can appreciate it.
The monumental piece, 1.8 meters high by 1.5 wide and with weight greater than a ton, will have its home at the Chalcatzingo Museum, a space that was rehabilitated for reopening with support from authorities of the City of Jantetelco.
Just last February 12, the Olmeca affiliation monolith arrived in Chalcatzingo, from the Regional Museum of the Peoples of Morelos (Murepumo), Palacio de Cortés, in Cuernavaca.
Federal, state and municipal authorities led this day a ceremony for their unveiling, which was attended by about 400 people.
“The monolith of the Olmeca culture is a heritage of universal culture and, at the same time, represents the celebration of the friendship between two peoples,” said the general director of INAH, Diego Prieto, who highlighted the invaluable help provided by the authorities of United States for its return, after being stolen in the 1960s.
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The monument has an age of more than 2,500 years, comparable to the iconic Olmec colossal heads.
The official thanked the orientation and support of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (SRE, Foreign Ministry), of the state, municipal and local authorities, as well as the specialists of the National Coordination of Cultural Heritage Conservation (CNCPC) of the INAH, who carried out the restoration of monument 9, at the Murepumo facilities.
On the management for the repatriation of the monolith, the former general of Mexico in New York, Jorge Islas López, in charge of the legal process that began in 2022, explained that his role was to defend the heritage and cultural sovereignty.
Meanwhile, the head of the Conservation and Research Area at the CNCPC, Ana Bertha Miramontes Mercado, highlighted the contribution of the Federal Office of Culture of Switzerland to carry out the restoration of the patrimonial good, and explained that it is a peculiar piece “Because it is not common for sculptures to present cavities such as the one that appears in this case, which, according to the Olmeca cosmogony, symbolizes the entrance to the underworld.
Created 2,500 years ago, sculpture is part of a set of at least 14 petrographs that can be observed in the archaeological zone of Chalcatzingo, a wide sculptural space and of great symbology.
During the administration of Andrés Manuel López Obrador (2018-2024), Mexico implemented a series of legal actions and strategies in order to promote the restitution of Mexican cultural heritage that is illegally located abroad. Globally, Mexico’s embassies and consulates recovered about 14,000 cultural pieces during that period.
With EFE information.
