Nashville Council greenlights Parthenon's effort to return centuries-old Mexican artifacts

Nashville's Parthenon Museum can now push forward with plans to repatriate centuries-old Mexican artifacts from its pre-Columbian collection after receiving final approval from Nashville's council Tuesday.

The museum received 248 artifacts that predate Christopher Columbus' arrival in North America from donors John Montgomery and Edgar York in the 1960s and 1970s. The artifacts lack documentation of origin, many having been unearthed during hobby excavations and illegally brought back to the United States. The museum has explored how it might return the artifacts to Mexico for the last two decades, Parthenon Director Lauren Bufferd said.

The Parthenon Museum is owned by Metro Nashville and operated by the city's parks department. Metro Council passed a bill on consent Tuesday allowing the museum to remove the artifacts from its permanent collection, clearing a hurdle that has frustrated repatriation efforts for years.

Registrar and Assistant Curator Bonnie Seymour spent the last two years completing a full inventory of the artifacts and contacting other museums and international consuls while the museum and Metro officials worked toward changing Metro Code to allow the Parthenon to remove the artifacts from its collection.

The artifacts will be given to the Mexican consulate and ultimately delivered to the Institute of Anthropology and History in Mexico City.

A selection of the artifacts, an explanation of repatriation and original works by Mexican artist José Véra González are on display at the Parthenon's temporary "Repatriation and Its Impact" exhibit through July 14.

This article originally appeared on Nashville Tennessean: Nashville Council OKs Parthenon's effort to return artifacts to Mexico