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Al Mayadeen's correspondent: Two were martyred in an initial toll of the Israeli drone strike that targeted the al-Asira neighborhood in the city of Baalbek, eastern Lebanon
Al Mayadeen's correspondent: An Israeli drone strike targeted the al-Asira neighborhood east of Baalbek, eastern Lebanon
Sheikh Naim Qassem to the pager attack survivors: You are the greatest resistance. Know that 'Israel' will fall because it embodies aggression, crime, and occupation; victory is truly yours
Sheikh Qassem to the pager attack survivors: The value of what you are doing despite your wounds is immense, and here you are, treading the path of the Master of Nation's Martyrs and the leaders
Sheikh Qassem to the pager attack survivors: You are moving forward with insight deeper than sight itself. The enemy sought to eliminate your role in the battle, yet you remain steadfast and continue the fight
Hezbollah Secretary-General Sheikh Naim Qassem to the pager attack survivors one year later: You are healing from your wounds and rising above them. You have successfully passed the test
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Egyptian PM Mostafa Madbouli: Egypt is targeted in plans to redraw regional map
AEOI Chief Mohammad Eslami: Our presence in IAEA General Council and fact-checking helped in preventing unilateral rhetoric that aims to portray Iran as an unregulated country

Historic Moai statue to be returned to Easter Island

  • By Al Mayadeen Net
  • Source: Agencies
  • 22 Feb 2022 10:47
2 Min Read

After being kept at a Chile museum since 1870, the sacred statue returned to its home place, over 3,000 kilometers from the coast.

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  • The moai heads at Rano Raraku, the quarry on Easter Island. The sculptures have bodies attached, but they are buried under the dirt and not visible. About 400 moai are here in various stages of carving. (Karen Schwartz/AP)
    The Moai heads at Rano Raraku, the quarry on Easter Island (AP)

After being placed in Santiago since 1870, a colossal Moai statue - one of the most iconic stone monuments from Easter Island in the middle of the Pacific Ocean - made its way back to its homeland on Monday.

This comes after years of campaigning to have it returned to Rapa Nui, the local name of the island. 

Moai statues are monolithic human figures which date back to years between 1250 and 1500 A.D, and are symbols of religious and political leadership and power. To their sculpturers, the statues have magical and spiritual meanings hence why they are sacred to the Rapa Nui community. 

The sculpture, which weighs 715 kg, will be transported to Valparaiso in Chile by truck, to have the monument naval-shipped to the island on a journey that will take five days time.

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The decision is part of a campaign whose target is to return ancient monuments of religious, cultural or spiritual significance, particularly sacred and funerary objects to Rapa Nui.

“For the first time, a Moai will return to the island from the mainland,” said Consuelo Valdes, Chile’s minister of culture.

  • A Moai Tau del Ivi Tupuna statue sits inside the Natural History Museum in Santiago, Chile, before it is returned to Chile’s Easter Island, the statue has been at the museum since 1870. Photograph: Natural History Museum of Chile/AFP/Getty Images
    The Moai Tau del Ivi Tupuna statue inside the Natural History Museum in Santiago, Chile, before it is returned to Rapa Nui. (Natural History Museum of Chile)

“Without a doubt, this is part of a work that as a ministry we began years ago with the return of various collections and ancestors to their homeland.”

Rapa Nui has over 1,000 stone statues of giant heads which have made it to UNESCO world heritage site status. 

In Santiago, the capital of Chile, the Rapa Nui community honored the decision at the National Museum of Natural History, which still keeps two other smaller sculptures.

The statue, carved many hundred years ago, will be kept in the Padre Sebastián Englert Anthropological Museum on the island.

  • Moai statue
  • Chile
  • UNESCO World Heritage Site

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