Despite being illegal since 1972, Mexico has long had problems with collectors and traffickers taking artifacts abroad.

However, 881 sculptures, ships and other relics on display in Mexico City were returned voluntarily by foreign collectors or by police seizures abroad. They have been returned from the United States, Italy, France, Germany and the Netherlands.

In most cases, they are the first to be seen in Mexico.

Many of the other 644 works were confiscated in Mexico or kept in warehouses for a long time. Forty-six of them are rented from overseas museums.

“What we are getting here is the possibility that we Mexicans will see these works again, or for the first time,” said one of the curators, Miguel Angel Trinidad.

As an example, the striking Maya stelae shows a military commander grabbing a captured rival. Previously it was on display in Los Angeles, California.

The show is called “Mexico’s Greatness” and the works on display are from pre-Hispanic cultures such as Maya, Aztecs and Olmecs and later works. These works will be exhibited at the National Museum of Anthropology in Mexico City and the Museum of the Colonial Department of Public Education.

The show marks the 500th anniversary of Spain’s conquest of Mexico City in 1521 and the 200th anniversary of Mexico’s independence from Spain in 1821.