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The foundation had already returned two pre-Columbian masks with ritual significance for the indigenous Kogi community to Colombia in June 2023. In the course of the cooperation between the parties, three further Kogi objects were identified that were used in the same ritual use and in conjunction with these masks. In October 2024, they travelled to Colombia on loan to deepen the joint exchange on the objects and prepare for the planned return of these ritually significant objects.

Hermann Parzinger, President of the SPK: "In the course of returning the unique Kogi masks, we were able to expand our cooperation with our Colombian partners and advance joint research. The identification of the three objects, which have been on loan in Colombia for several months, is a success of this cooperation. I am delighted that we were also able to finalise the formal restitution today."

The artefacts come from the indigenous Kogi (also known as Kogui) community from the Sierra Nevada de Santa Marta in northern Colombia. They were acquired for the museum by Konrad Theodor Preuss in 1915 as part of a research trip. They are a staff, a basket and a small basket (inventory numbers V A 62644, V A 62645, V A 62607), which were evidently used in the same ritual and in combination with the masks and still have great sacred significance for the Kogi today.

H.E. Yadir Salazar Mejía, Ambassador of Colombia to Germany: "Today, with this signature, the return of three objects of great importance in the ritual, social and symbolic universe of the peoples of the Sierra Nevada de Santa Marta is formally sealed. The return to Colombia of these objects, which complement the two ritual masks of the Kogui people, after 109 years in Germany, is a historic milestone and a clear sign of the friendship and cooperative collaboration that characterise bilateral relations between Germany and Colombia. I feel very honoured to have successfully helped shape this process from start to finish - a process that shows the great importance the Colombian government attaches to the voices of the indigenous peoples of my country and the reciprocity with which the SPK and the German government have responded."

Provenance: The Preuss Collection

The objects were acquired in 1915 by Konrad Theodor Preuss, ethnologist and curator of the Royal Museum of Ethnology, the predecessor institution of the Ethnological Museum. On a research trip to Colombia between 1913 and 1919, Preuss collected a total of over 700 objects, of which around 440 are still preserved in the Ethnological Museum. The rest were lost during the war. At the centre of his research, however, was an examination of the oral traditions of the peoples he visited.

As part of the journey, Preuss also spent several months with the Kogi, whose self-designation is Kágaba, during which he also made audio recordings. In collaboration with several Mamas, he recorded myths and songs in the Kágaba language (kougian) and published them with a translation in 1926. He also amassed a small collection of Kogi artefacts, around 80 of which are still preserved today. Preuss acquired the two masks from the heir of a deceased Mama, "thanks to a favourable opportunity", as he wrote in his book "Forschungsreise zu den Kágaba" (1926).

More about Konrad Theodor Preuss in a virtual exhibition in the DDB: https://ausstellungen.deutsche-digitale-bibliothek.de/preuss/

Press photos:

https://www.preussischer-kulturbesitz.de/newsroom/presse/pressebilder/detailseite/artikel/2024/10/28/spk-intensiviert-zusammenarbeit-mit-kolumbien-rituelle-gegenstaende-der-kogi-werden-vereint.html