The National Museum of Natural History of Chile announced on Monday the return of a giant statue to the inhabitants of Easter Island from where it had been removed more than a century and a half ago.

“For the first time a moai will return to [Easter] Island from the mainland,” said Culture Minister Consuelo Valdés in a statement.

Easter Island, located 3,700 km from the Chilean coast in the Pacific, is famous throughout the world for its enigmatic moai, monumental statues fashioned between the 13th and 16th centuries.

The Moai Tau, which is about to return to the island, is a 715 kg basalt monolith.

It had been taken on a ship of the Chilean navy in 1870. It had been on display since 1878 at the National Museum of Natural History in Santiago.

Hoy es una jornada inédita: en el Día Internacional de la #LenguaMaterna como @culturas_cl iniciamos el retorno del Moai más antiguo alojado en el @MNHNcl desde 1870. pic.twitter.com/PmnAWjdh7t

— Consuelo Valdés (@Consuelovaldesc) February 21, 2022

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“We have been waiting for this day for a long time”

In 2018, the Polynesian Rapa Nui people asked the Chilean government for the return of this statue and other pieces belonging to the island's heritage.

The monolith will be transported by boat from the port of Valparaiso.

The ship will set sail on Monday for a five-day voyage to the island.

“For me and for my people, it is fundamental that the moai return to their native land.

We have been waiting for this day for a long time,” reacted Veronica Tuqui, a Rapa Nui representative.

On the island, the statue will be exhibited at the Padre Sebastian Englert Anthropological Museum.

The Rapa Nui also demanded from the British Museum in London the return of the Moai Hoa Hakananai'a, a monolith 2.4 m high and weighing 4 t.

It had been removed in 1868 by the navigator Richard Powell, to offer it to Queen Victoria.

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