Peruvian Cultural Property Repatriated

WILMINGTON, Del. – Charles M. Oberly, III, United States Attorney for the District of Delaware, announced today the return to the government of Peru of the two Cuzco School paintings pictured below. The repatriation took place in a ceremony today at the Peruvian Embassy in Washington, D.C.

Paintings of the Cuzco School were painted in and around Cuzco, Peru from the 16th through the 18th Centuries. The Andean city of Cuzco had been the capital of the Inca empire and under Spanish rule became the headquarters for Spanish religious orders. European artists introduced their style of painting to indigenous artists, and Cuzco became known for its distinctive religious theme painting. Today, Cuzco School paintings can be found in churches in the region, from which, unfortunately, they are sometimes stolen.

In addition, two archeological artifacts were returned to the Peruvian government. One is a pre-Columbian jar deriving from the Moche culture, which flourished in northern coastal Peru from the first through eighth centuries. The second object is a pre-Columbian bronze blade related to the Chimu-Inca coastal styles of the thirteenth to fifteenth centuries.