anima mundi

In the run-up to the visit, Indigenous groups visited the Vatican’s Anima Mundi museum, saw some of their ancestors’ handiwork, and expressed interest in having greater access to the collection, and the return of some items.

In the run-up to the visit, Indigenous groups visited the Vatican’s Anima Mundi museum, saw some of their ancestors’ handiworks, and expressed interest in having greater access to the collection, and the return of some items.

The Vatican’s Anima Mundi Ethnological Museum houses tens of thousands of artifacts and art made by Indigenous peoples from around the world, much of it sent to Rome by Catholic missionaries for a 1925 exhibition in the Vatican gardens.

The Rev. Nicola Mappelli, curator of the Anima Mundi museum, declined to comment on calls for restitution of the Vatican’s own ethnographic holdings, saying these were questions for the museum leadership.

The museum director, Barbara Jatta, didn’t refer to the issue in her remarks at the opening, emphasizing however what she said was the Anima Mundi’s commitment to transparency and “dialogue with different cultures.”