(30 Jan 1998) Spanish/Nat
One family's collection has become one of Peru's leading showcases on treasures from the past in Lima's Museum of Gold.
The museum's display of artifacts is the work of the Mujica Gallo family, whose guardian role has kept some 45-thousand pieces on Peruvian soil.
Many more have been illegally transferred out of the country and placed on the international collectors' market.
The treasures on display in Peru's Museum of Gold date back to the Inca and pre-Inca era period as long as 17-hundred years ago.
They are part of a renowned heritage of ancient artifacts sought after by collectors worldwide.
But these exhibits are secure in the hands of one family.
Museum director Pedro Mujica Diezcanseco oversees the collection first set up by his father in 1932.
Some of the estimated 45-thousand pieces have been bought back from abroad.
Others have been lifted from ancient sites and sold to the museum.
It is illegal in Peru to export artifacts, but the lucrative trade is an active one and the looting and exchange of ancient objects remains rife.
Laws against the trafficking or Peruvian treasures are too lax, say experts.
Diezcanseco is resigned to the fact that despite the best efforts to protect them, valuable artifacts like those he displays will continue to fall prey to market demand.
SOUNDBITE: (Spanish)
"They try as hard as they can, but so long as the clandestine businessmen are around and willing to try different methods, these pieces will still disappear."
SUPER CAPTION: Pedro Mujica Diezcanseco, museum director
Tourists have been granted access to this unusual museum.
Many more will have a chance to view the collection as much of it is scheduled to tour Japan, Italy and France starting in July.
And its guardians continue their costly pursuit to buy back what should never have been sold in the first place.
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