Museo Nacional de Colombia has returned 63 objects to its galleries after a court ordered their reinstatement. The works were removed on 15 October amid a government campaign against what it called political indoctrination; the ruling also bars the museum and cultural ministry from taking works down because of their content or viewpoint.
What changed
On the evening of 28 October, César Enrique Osorio Ortiz, a judge at Bogotá’s 24th Family Court, gave the cultural ministry and the museum 48 hours to return the objects to their original locations. The ministry complied on Friday, 30 October, restoring the full group to public view.
The court’s decision addressed the removal of more than 60 works from several permanent galleries. The objects include posters connected to presidential campaigns by left-wing leaders Carlos Pizarro and Bernardo Jaramillo Ossa, both assassinated in 1990. Other items include a pride flag belonging to activist Elizabeth Castillo and a poster for the International Day for the Elimination of Violence Against Women.
A pen made from a bullet used to sign the 2016 peace agreement between the Colombian state and the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia was also among the returned objects. Its presence links the display to the peace process, while the posters and flag represent political and social histories that became central to the dispute.
Who is affected
The reinstatement restores public access to material concerning LGBTQ+ rights, feminism, victims of political violence and the peace agreement. The removal had reached beyond a dispute over individual objects: the judge found that the decision had been made “without a documented curatorial justification” and had “disregarded the constitutional protection of cultural expressions”.
The case was brought by cultural groups and political opponents who accused the government of censorship. Congressman Gabriel Becerra, identified as a left-wing lawmaker behind the constitutional-rights case, welcomed the ruling in a post on X: “No government owns our history!”
The episode also prompted protests outside the museum, where hundreds gathered, and a joint statement from six museums expressing “deep concern” and calling for protection of their professional autonomy. The signatories were modern art museums in Bogotá, Barranquilla, Cartagena, Medellín and Tolima, and the Museo Rayo.
Marielsa Castro Vizcarra, chief curator of the Museo de Arte Moderno de Medellín, one of the signatories, said the cultural sector responded through demonstrations, the statement and the involvement of the International Committee for Museums and Collections of Modern Art. She described the episode as “a precedent we need to take into account” and “an authoritarian way of spreading fear”.
What remains open
The order does not freeze the museum’s galleries in their restored state. The judge left room for future exhibition changes, provided they have proper justification and are not driven by authorities’ objections to the works’ content. That distinction places the focus on the basis for any later curatorial decision, rather than making every object’s display permanent.
The dispute unfolded amid calls by President Abelardo de la Espriella for a “cultural war” and a “direct blow to ‘wokeism’ and the ideologisation of culture”. The objects were returned during outgoing president Gustavo Petro’s administration. Whether the museum or ministry will seek changes under the court’s conditions remains unsettled; any proposed removal will have to be justified on curatorial grounds.
Sources
- efe.com — “English – EFE Noticias”
- efe.com — “National museum returns to exhibit pieces removed by govt”
- efe.com — “Culture – EFE Noticias”
- theartnewspaper.com — “The Art Newspaper – International art news and events”