More than a decade after recovering €5m (US$6.5m, £4m) worth of stolen art from a Colombian drug bust, Spanish authorities are set to return the bounty of more than 700 pieces to Colombia to go on display as a new exhibit at the country’s national museum in Bogota.

The catalogue of stolen artefacts – which dates back from as far as 1400BC up to the 16th Century – includes a collection of vases decorated with human faces, ceramic bowls, musical instruments, necklaces, small statues and figurines.


The objects will be put on display at Colombia's national museum

"Recovering for our nation these archaeological treasures has a value that is really difficult to put any price on,” said Colombian Foreign Minister María Ángela Holguín at a briefing, presenting 50 of the pieces.

“They are from many of our (indigenous) cultures, and getting them home took years."

The artefacts, which are the largest amount recovered in one go for more than three decades, had been smuggled out of Colombia in 2001, before being seized by Spanish authorities during a Madrid drug bust in 2003.