Embajada de Australia
España
Andorra y Guinea Ecuatorial

nota_de_prensa_maps

Rejected

BOLETÍN DE PRENSA
Madrid, 12 de febrero de 2008


Australian Government hands back stolen 15th century map to Spain  

 


 

The Australian Government has handed back a rare 500-year old map to Spain, confirming in practice Australia’s continuing commitment to protecting significant cultural heritage items of other countries

-At a ceremony at the National Library of Australia in Canberra on 4 February Parliamentary Secretary to the Prime Minister, Anthony Byrne, formally returned to His Excellency Mr Antonio Cosano, Ambassador of Spain, one of the world’s great treasures – a rare and beautiful 500 year-old map from Ptolemy’s Cosmographia.

-Based on the work of ancient astronomer and geographer Claudius Ptolemy, and printed in Germany in 1482, the map shows how the world was viewed before the era of great explorers like Christopher Columbus and Vasco da Gama.

-The map was one of 18 rare documents reported stolen from the National Library of Spain in August 2007. (It was seized in Sydney in October 2007 after the Spanish Government asked the Australian Government to help with the map’s identification and repatriation)

-Through the Protection of Movable Cultural Heritage Act 1986 the Australian Government responds to official requests from foreign governments to return illegally-exported cultural heritage objects.

-The return of the Ptolemy world map is an excellent example of how Australia is helping protect significant – and ultimately, irreplaceable – cultural heritage items of other countries.

-This repatriation follows last month’s return of 750 kilograms of illegally-imported Chinese dinosaur, mammal and reptile fossils. (Other objects returned recently include 130 kilograms of dinosaur and plant fossils returned to Argentina in August 2007; 16 Dyak skulls returned to Malaysia in May 2007; and an Asmat human skull returned to Indonesia in December 2006)