Chapter 03

Metal plates with bizarre motifs
The remainders of an astonishing collection are kept in Cuenca, Ecuador. A collection with the following origins: Father Carlos Crespi, who died in 1982, did missionary work among the Indian population in remote valleys during his lifetime. He collected their ritual objects. The age and origin of these items is still unknown today. Father Crespi’s collection originally consisted of a pile of colourfully mixed curios. The best known and most controversial exhibits are metal sheets of copper, brass and other alloys. The picture motifs are strange, their meaning not understood. Were they left by unknown civilisations?

Art objects from the Crespi collection
Where did Father Crespi’s treasures come from? This question about their origins is the great secret around the pieces. No matter whether they are from metal, ceramics, wood, stone or animal bones, Father Crespi never tried to classify them. What is truly original? What is newly created? Science does not care. It pays no attention to these works of art. Therefore, many were destroyed, lost or wound up with treasure hunters. Remainders of the original collection are inaccessible to the public. They are stored in the cellar archive of the church Maria Auxiliadora, in Cuenca, Ecuador. Here they wait for their rediscovery.