A case of stolen property returning to the country of origin

July 27, 2005

WASHINGTON - A 400-year-old carved and painted altarpiece, 10 feet high and weighing about 1,000 pounds, was returned to the government of Peru on Tuesday after it was stolen from a church in Peru and put on sale in Santa Fe, New Mexico.

The piece, made between 1575 and 1595, comes from the town of Challapampa, near Peru's border with Bolivia. Peruvian authorities called it an important example of Spanish colonial art, carved by Pedro de Vargas and painted by Bernardo Bitti, an Italian Jesuit who worked in Latin America.

It was offered for sale by a gallery in Santa Fe, N.M. for $600,000 when American authorities recovered it.

At the turnover ceremony, Peruvian Ambassador Eduardo Ferrero Costa said, "This case is a warning message to people who think that a country's cultural objects can be bought and sold. We are working with the United States and other countries to recover our stolen patrimony and bring to justice those responsible."

U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement officials led the investigation that resulted in the recovery of the artifact.