The collection -1,371 complete objects and fragments- will be exhibited from Tuesday at the Templo Mayor museum in the historic center of Mexico City, under the supervision of the National Institute of Anthropology and History (INAH), the arm armed with the heritage preservation policy.

"This is the most important restitution of archaeological pieces by individuals," said Foreign Minister Marcelo Ebrard during the usual press conference of President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador.

“We were just asked not to give the name of the family who had these objects,” he added.

Pre-Hispanic objects, recovered by Mexico from a Spanish family, exhibited at the Templo Mayor museum, July 26, 2022 in Mexico City ALFREDO ESTRELLA AFP

"We are in the process of recovering the archaeological and cultural heritage of Mexico abroad," welcomed President Lopez Obrador, mentioning "thousands of stolen archaeological pieces".

Stone-cut figures, arrowheads and vases are part of the collection.

“The moment we received these boxes containing the archaeological pieces and we started to understand the type of objects that were there, we were very moved because there are very important and interesting pieces,” said to AFP the director of the Templo Mayor museum, Patricia Ledezma.

Lopez Obrador's government has recovered 8,970 pre-Hispanic objects since taking office in December 2018, according to Minister Ebrard.

Mexico regularly opposes the auctioning of objects from the Mesoamerican cultures that occupied its territory, from the Olmecs to the Aztecs to the Mayas.

The current government considers that this heritage has been taken out of the country illegally since the 19th century.

Auction houses and foreign governments ask Mexico to prove that the archaeological pieces belong to it, explained Mr. Ebrard.

Pre-Hispanic objects, recovered by Mexico from a Spanish family, exhibited at the Templo Mayor museum, July 26, 2022 in Mexico City ALFREDO ESTRELLA AFP

But Mexico has at times managed to push its case that it's up to sellers to "demonstrate the legal origin" of pre-Hispanic pieces, he added.

© 2022 AFP