Switzerland encourages French-speaking countries to return stolen cultural property
Switzerland encourages French-speaking countries to return stolen cultural property
Sputnik
La Jornada Newspaper, Wednesday, July 9, 2025, p. 4
Geneva. The Swiss delegation to the Parliamentary Assembly of La Francophonie presented a resolution urging other French-speaking countries to contribute to the restitution of cultural property stolen during colonization, according to a statement on the Swiss Parliament's website.
From July 9 to 13, Paris will host the 50th Parliamentary Assembly of La Francophonie, bringing together representatives from 91 parliaments to discuss democracy, human rights, and cultural diversity.
In presenting the resolution, the Swiss delegation wished to raise awareness among its French-speaking counterparts about the need to adopt measures to facilitate the restitution of cultural property stolen during the period of colonial rule
, the document states.
Switzerland intends to propose to the states and governments of the French-speaking world that they adapt the principles of the Washington Conference—originally applicable to works of art confiscated by the Nazis—to the case of cultural property stolen during colonization.
The 1998 Washington Conference, organized by the U.S. Department of State and the Holocaust Memorial Museum, was dedicated to cultural objects stolen by the Nazi regime and was attended by 44 countries. The outcome was the establishment of 11 principles for the restitution of works of art confiscated from Jews.
Restoration of Rivera's mural in Chapingo completes
▲ Song to the Land and to Those Who Work and Liberate It (Song to the Liberated Land) , a work by Diego Rivera at the Autonomous University of Chapingo, was affected by structural movements caused by earthquakes and eventual settlements of the building where it is located. Photo courtesy of Inbal
From the editorial staff
La Jornada Newspaper, Wednesday, July 9, 2025, p. 5
From November 13, 2024 to June 27, restoration work was carried out on Diego Rivera's mural work Song to the Land and to Those Who Work It and Liberate It (Song to the Liberated Land) , located in the Riveriana Chapel of the Autonomous University of Chapingo.
The completion of the intervention, carried out by technical staff from the Mural Painting Workshop of the National Center for the Conservation and Registration of Movable Artistic Heritage (Cencropam), which consisted of stabilizing the layers of fresco painting that were affected by structural movements caused by earthquakes and eventual settlements of the building, was announced yesterday by the federal Ministry of Culture and the National Institute of Fine Arts and Literature (Inbal).
The work on Rivera's project consisted of a general mechanical cleaning, as well as chemical cleaning in specific areas and color restoration. Meanwhile, at the property where he resides, located at kilometer 38.5 of the Mexico-Texcoco Highway in Chapingo, State of Mexico, cracks in the air chambers were consolidated and stabilized through injection and repaired with binder materials.
This intervention was carried out thanks to a collaboration agreement between the Autonomous University of Chapingo and the National Institute of Biological Sciences (INBAL), through Cencropam (Cencropam), to restore the collection of Diego Rivera murals in the university's Riveriana Chapel.
The mural covers 370.23 square meters and was created between 1925 and 1927 as part of a series of frescoes in which the artist depicted the Mexican agrarian struggle and allegories that exalt the regenerative power of nature, the fertility of the soil, and the dignity of peasants.
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