Africa-Press – Angola. The Criminal Investigation Service (SIC) in Lunda Norte, this Thursday, recovered the Mwana Pwo masks and the Samanhonga (Pensador) statuette, recently stolen from the Dundo Regional Museum.
According to the SIC spokesman in Lunda Norte, Graciano Lumanhi, precious jewels were also recovered, four batches containing 1,879,000 diamonds, which were allegedly stolen from the Museum.
He made it known that the recovered means will be returned as a trustee in the said museum under legal terms while the criminal process runs through its procedures.
He informed that the director of the museum, Ilunga André, plus two employees are still being held, for being allegedly involved in the crime.
He highlighted that the artifacts and diamonds were removed from the exhibition area, precisely in the cultural animation room and were hidden in the director’s office, who was preparing for a trip with the media in the Republic of Cape Verde.
He underlined that the detained citizens have already been present to the Public Prosecutor’s Office, which applied the most serious personal security measure “preventive detention” against them.
The Mwana Pwo mask is part of a set of eight artifacts that had been illicitly exported to Europe in the 1990s, but which were recovered by the Sindika Dokolo Foundation, from the Kingdom of Belgium, having been returned to the Museum Regional do Dundo, in 2019, through the Ministry of Culture and Tourism.
The museum
The museum, located in the “heart” of the ancient city of Dundo and with more than 100 years of existence, helps society to identify historical events that were decisive and essential for the construction of the Lunda “Empire”.
To help preserve memories and, at the same time, explain them to those interested, the institution has a collection full of articles and ethnographic, biological, archaeological, sacred and popular art collections and some objects that relate to the history of Industrial Revolution, such as the exploitation of diamonds.
The ethnographic collections of the Dundo Museum constitute the main component of the institution’s corporate purpose and result from the first campaign to collect pieces, called the Camaxilo expedition, made in the distant year of 1937, and the Alto Zambeze, in 1939.
The Dundo Museum has 9,000 ethnographic pieces and plans, soon, to collect others that are in the possession of people linked to art and collection holders.
Among the cultural items on display, the statuette of Samanhonga (Thinker) stands out, which has become a national symbol, the Mwana Phowo masks (depicts female beauty), Mukishi wa Mwanangana (clown of the king) – which corresponds to the sacred sacrifice and represents the ancestors of the tribal chief, as well as the musical instruments: Ngoma (drums or drums) and puita.
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