**The Ekeko figurine during its restitution to Bolivia in 2014.** Keystone

The long journey of the Ekeko

In 1858, Swiss naturalist and diplomat Johann Jakob von Tschudi illegitimately appropriated a Pucara-style figure from the sacred place of Tiwanaku. Some 150 years later, the sculpture was returned to Bolivia, a significant event that reflects Switzerland's approach to its colonial legacy.

Tomás Bartoletti

Tomás Bartoletti is a senior lecturer at the Chair for History of the Modern World of the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology (ETH) in Zurich.

In November 2014, a Pucara-style sculpture associated with the Ekeko deity was removed from the Historical Museum of Bern to return to its place of origin in Bolivia. This figurine had remained in the Swiss capital since 1929, when it was acquired by the museum along with other artifacts and human remains from the collection of naturalist Johann Jakob von Tschudi (1818-1889). The Ekeko sculpture’s first transatlantic voyage took place in 1858, when Tschudi removed it from the sacred site of Tiwanaku. Over 150 years later, the sculpture was finally restored to the National Museum of Archaeology in La Paz.

**Watercolour portrait of Johann Jakob von Tschudi.** Museum des Landes Glarus, Inv.-Nr. 06226

Demystifying the ‘great man of science’

Johann Jakob von Tschudi, born in Glarus in 1818, was a naturalist and diplomat who made three extensive journeys to South America between 1838 and 1861. Like many explorers of his time, he devoted a significant portion of his travels to amassing collections of animals, plants, minerals, cultural artifacts, and even human remains. For instance, on his first trip to Peru between 1838 and 1842, Tschudi hunted hundreds of animals, which he stuffed and sent to the Museum of Natural History in Neuchâtel. He also brought back archaeological artifacts and human remains, now housed in Swiss and European institutions. For Tschudi and other scientists of his era, collecting was a means of accumulating both material and symbolic capital, showcased by the scope of their explorations and their zeal in selecting objects of scientific and aesthetic value. Publishing books about these collections further reinforced their social status as “great men of science” and allowed them to narrate their adventures and exploits to a wider European audience. Tschudi’s extensive collections, along with his prolific publications on subjects ranging from zoology and linguistics to ethnography and archaeology, exemplify the colonial legacies of a Swiss naturalist’s expeditions through South America.

**Frontispiece of the book ‘Journey through South America’, 1869.** Tomás Bartoletti

Tschudi recounts how he appropriated the Ekeko in the fifth volume of his book Reise durch Südamerika (Journey through South America, 1869). The book documents his second and third journeys through Brazil, Argentina, Chile, and Bolivia, including his role as a diplomat in the Swiss colonial settlers' conflict in Brazil. The way in which Tschudi frames his travels in this work reveals his racist biases towards Afro-descendant and indigenous populations in Brazil. This is crucial to understanding the story behind the illegitimate appropriation of the Pucara-style sculpture. Tschudi’s detailed description of the piece, along with two illustrations, provided key evidence for identifying the Ekeko in the Historical Museum of Bern and enabled Bolivia to initiate its restitution claim.

In describing his acquisition of the Ekeko, Tschudi himself acknowledged the sacred value it held for the indigenous people, even likening it to a Catholic saint. He observed how they made regular offerings to the figurine and lit candles in its honour. Recognising the cultural and commercial allure such objects held in Europe, Tschudi expressed an interest in acquiring the sculpture. Reportedly, the indigenous people only reluctantly surrendered the Ekeko under the influence of cognac and the persistent pressure of Tschudi's official escort. After the handover, which apparently took place when Tschudi was already back in the saddle, he and his escort quickly made off. A group of indigenous people chased after them unsuccessfully. This account reveals the distress and alarm Tschudi’s actions caused them.

**Tschudi with his objects. Illustration in the book ‘Journey through South America’, 1869.** Tomás Bartoletti

A critical eye recognises that this evidence only portrays Tschudi's perspective. The narrative attempts, on the one hand, to retrospectively justify his actions and, on the other, to emphasise his “heroic” courage in the face of the indigenous “drunks”. Reading other accounts and documents by Tschudi himself, the appropriation of the Ekeko adds to the long list of instances in which this Swiss naturalist and diplomat boasts of collecting objects of all kinds, hunting animals on indigenous lands, plundering human remains from burial sites, and “buying” culturally valuable objects in transactions of dubious consent. Tschudi justified his actions in the name of science and the advancement of knowledge. He later sold these objects in European museums and published accounts of his travels, spreading his ideas of European superiority. In Tschudi’s as in other cases, this image of the “great man of science” rested on acts of physical and symbolic violence against South America's cultural and natural heritage.

**Drawing of the Ekeko figurine in the book ‘Journey through South America’, 1869.** Tomás Bartoletti

The controversy over the restitution of the Ekeko

The Pucara-style sculpture brought back by Tschudi was exhibited for many years in the Historical Museum of Bern. From 2006, profound transformations took place in Bolivian society. Under the leadership of indigenous leader Evo Morales, social reforms, including the revalorisation of the state's indigenous cultures were introduced, including the search for Bolivian cultural heritage abroad. Elizabeth Salguero Carrillo, a Bolivian diplomat in Germany between 2012 and 2016, rediscovered the Ekeko in Bern and initiated restitution negotiations.

When Salguero Carrillo visited the Historical Museum of Bern in 2012, the thorny questions surrounding the provenance of collections in European museums were not yet as central as they have been in recent years. In Switzerland, the importance of improving provenance research in museums was only formalised in 2020.

Despite the evidence published by von Tschudi himself, the Historical Museum of Bern’s direction at the time was sceptical about the Bolivian claim for restitution. It was argued that the Pucara-style sculpture was not exactly an Ekeko. Only the Western scientific view was considered valid. The Bolivian claim was justified based not only on the fact that Tschudi had explicitly appropriated this piece from a sacred place like Tiwanaku in 1858, but also on the actual cultural value of the piece, which was seen as representing what is popularly known in Bolivia today as the Ekeko. This deity, considered the god of abundance, is honoured during the celebrations of the Alasitas. UNESCO nominated the Alasitas fair as part of the cultural and intangible heritage of humanity in 2011. From the Bolivian perspective, although the sculpture housed in Bern might not actually have depicted the same figure as contemporary Ekekos, it still represents the spirit of the current Ekeko. In that sense, the ancient piece can be seen as representing its predecessor, which gives the figurine great cultural significance.

**The Ekeko figurine from Bolivia.** Historical Museum of Bern

In the context of the public debate in Bern, the cantonal parliament voted 117 in favour of with 10 votes against in approval of a postulate instructing the Bernese cantonal government to support the return of the statue. The vote was based on the fact that the statue is of much more cultural significance to Bolivia than it ever was to Bern. The parliament also referred to the legal and ethical framework provided by the International Council of Museums, according to which the Ekeko should be restituted in the case of such claims. Nevertheless, the Historical Museum of Bern hesitated, accusing the Bolivian state of having misidentified the figure and of being mainly politically motivated.

The Historical Museum of Bern continued to attach certain conditions to the restitution. Instead of transferring complete sovereignty over the Ekeko to the Bolivian state, the Historical Museum of Bern offered a ‘shared heritage’ contract, meaning that Bern could potentially recover the sculpture or set special conditions for its restitution and further exhibition in Bolivia. When the Ekeko returned to Bolivia, there was a massive celebration in the Alasitas, and the sculpture travelled across La Paz to be honoured by its people. Contrary to the conditions laid down by the Historical Museum of Bern, the figurine was not kept under the agreed preservation setting. Once again, the museum requested prioritisation of its particular relation to this material object, arguing for the “scientific” preservation of the statue while ignoring the cultural significance and living practices attached to the figurine in Bolivia. Bolivian diplomat Elizabeth Salguero Carrillo responded to the criticism: “For Bolivia, the Ekeko is a sacred piece. We are not only a museum culture. Bolivia is a country of living cultures, for which contact with their sacred objects is fundamental.”

Report on the return of the Ekeko to Bolivia, 2014. swissinfo.ch

Significant changes have unfolded since the return of the Ekeko in 2014, both in Bern and Bolivia. Today, the Historical Museum of Bern, as well as other museums and collections, collaborates with partners across Africa, Oceania, and South America. Rather than enforcing agreements shaped only by Western concepts of science and heritage, these initiatives seek to create conditions that allow for a re-evaluation of such collections. In Bolivia, recent political turmoil has shaped the cultural landscape. And yet, the Ekeko has been celebrated each January during the Alasitas festival since its return. The spirit of the Ekeko has been fully revived in Bolivia. The spectre of Ekeko still lingers in the cultural memory of Swiss museums and raises the question of what else is to be found in these collections, perhaps even inspiring further restitutions of objects and collaborations with partners around the world.