Cultural Restitution

July 29, 2020
SPAIN
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Spain

Updated March 2025


Below is a schedule of successful restitutions made by Spain, together with other Spanish restitution news.  Entries are updated regularly


March 2025

The remains of Fernando Tupac Amaru, the last direct Inca descendant executed in 1781, are to be repatriated by Spain to Cuzco, Peru

andina.pe


June 2024

Spain publishes a list of more than 5,000 items plundered by the Franco regime during the civil war

The Guardian


January 2024

Spain's Minister of Culture has announced a 'review process' of their collections, generating the inevitable heated debate

El Pais


January 2024

Plans to decolonise Spain's 17 state-run museums has led to accusations of "wokery" and has received a mixed reception from both Socialist and right-wing politicians

The Times


January 2024

An expert in heritage studies during the Spanish Civil War is investigating works of art confiscated during the Franco regime, which he compares to looting by the Nazis during WWII

Alaska Commons


December 2023

Six years after being pulled from sale at auction, a fragment of the Tlaquiltenango Codex, discovered in 1909, has been returned by Spain to Mexico

Mexico News Daily


July 2020

Thirteen 1st cent Roman Amphorae and an 18th cent anchor were discovered during a routine food inspection at a frozen seafood shop in the Spanish city of Santa Pola in the province of Alicante

Hyperallergic





More News

Imperial Gold Hairpin to return to Ethiopia

December 5, 2025
A rare and important 19th century gold hairpin once owned by Empress Tiruwork, wife of the Abyssinian Emperor Tewodros II, will be returning to Ethiopia following negotiations by the Royal Ethiopian Trust with the Rome auction house Bertolami Fine Art

Protests in favour of a Benin Royal Museum frustrate ambitions of Nigeria’s Museum of West African Art

November 25, 2025
In 2022 several western collections made a decision to transfer ownership of their Benin Bronzes to Nigeria. Reassured by progress on the construction of a major new facility in Benin City, they understood their Benin artefacts would be exhibited in a new museum to be called the Edo Museum of West African Art

Why the Rosetta Stone will not be returning to Egypt ... just yet

November 11, 2025
After years of delay and political distraction, the official opening of the new Grand Egyptian Museum finally took place in the shadow of the pyramids on the evening of November 1st attended by monarchs, world leaders, heads of state and government