Father Sebastian Englert Anthropological Museum facts for kids

Quick facts for kids
Father Sebastian Englert Anthropological Museum

Museo Antropológico Padre Sebastián Englert
Established	1973
Location	Hanga Roa  Isla de Pascua  Chile
Type	Archaeological and ethnographic
Collection size	15,000

The Father Sebastian Englert Anthropological Museum is a cool museum located in Hanga Roa, the main town on Rapa Nui (also known as Easter Island). This island is part of Chilean Polynesia.

The museum is named after a special person, Fr. Sebastian Englert, who was a missionary from Bavaria. It opened in 1973. Its main goal is to protect and keep safe the amazing cultural treasures of the Rapa Nui people.

The museum is managed by the Chilean National Service of Cultural Heritage [es] (SNPC). It also has a library inside called the William Mulloy Library.

About the Museum

The museum building and grounds

The museum was started in 1973. It's named after Sebastian Englert because he spent a lot of time studying the language and culture of Easter Island. He collected many important objects during his research. These objects became the first part of the museum's collection.

What You Can See: Museum Collections

The museum has about 15,000 different items! These include the objects Sebastian Englert collected. It also has records from many years of archaeological digs on the island.

You can see ancient human remains found during these digs. The museum is also home to the only known female mo‘ai statue. Plus, it has one of the special coral eyes that used to be placed in the mo'ai statues.

Other cool things to explore include tools made from obsidian stone. There are also small wooden statues and old fish hooks. The museum has a collection of old photographs and recordings of traditional music. You can even see examples of rongorongo glyphs, which are ancient writings from the island.

The museum also studies nature. One interesting part of its animal collection is the bones of sea creatures. This includes two large bones from a blue whale!

The William Mulloy Library is part of the museum. It has many scientific books and papers about Easter Island.

Rapa Nui Objects in Other Countries

Many important Rapa Nui objects are kept in museums around the world. This happened because of things like colonial times and international researchers working on the island. For example, the University of Wyoming Art Museum has a collection of 180 small sculptures. These are made from volcanic rock, stone, and wood.

More than 70 mo'ai statues are in museums outside of Rapa Nui. You can find them in places like the British Museum and the Smithsonian Institution's National Museum of Natural History.

Gallery of Overseas Collections

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  Rapa Nui objects at Otago Museum

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  Mo'ai at the National Museum of Natural History

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  Mo'ai held at Musée de l'Homme

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  Mo'ai held at National Museum of Ethnology, Osaka

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  Tools from Ethnological Museum, Berlin

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  Staff or club at Honolulu Art Museum

Returning Objects Home: Repatriation

Repatriation means bringing cultural items or human remains back to their original home.

Returning Human Remains

Since 2013, there has been a special program to return and rebury "ivi tupana," which are ancient human remains. The Rapa Nui community leads this program. They work with researchers and the museum. For Rapa Nui, these human remains are not owned by the government. They must be returned directly to the community.

Kon-Tiki Voyage Items

In 2019, Norway and Chile made an agreement. This agreement allows cultural items and human remains from Thor Heyerdahl's research to be returned. Heyerdahl did his research between the 1950s and 1980s. The returned items will be added to the museum's collection.

Returning Mo'ai Statues

In 2006, Chilean artist Rosa Velasco helped bring back a mo'ai statue she had inherited. In 2018, New Zealand returned two mo'ai statues. These came from Te Papa Museum and Otago Museum.

One famous mo'ai, Hoa Hakananai’a, is at the British Museum. The Rapa Nui people formally asked for its return in 2019. The British Museum reportedly agreed to let it be borrowed.

Digital Repatriation

Since 2021, the museum has been working with the University of Wyoming. They are doing "digital repatriation." This means they share digital models and files of the objects. The goal is to have exhibitions at both museums at the same time, using these digital copies.

Gallery of Objects Requested for Return

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  Objects from the Kon-Tiki Museum that might be returned

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  Mo'ai from Otago Museum, before it was returned

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  Hoa Hakananai'a

Awards and Recognition

In 2006, UNESCO gave the museum an award. It was for the "INFOLAC Web 2005 Contest." The museum was recognized as the "best museum on line with a scientific foundation."

See also

In Spanish: Museo Antropológico Padre Sebastián Englert para niños