Moai statue returns to easter island after 152 years

Jubilant celebrations were held as, for the first time in over 150 years, the Tai Moai statue was returned to its home on Rapa Nui, as Easter Island is known locally.

The statue’s return is the result of a years-long repatriation campaign, which seeks to return ancestral remains, sacred, and funerary objects to the island.

The 715kg (1,576 pounds) sculpture was previously displayed in the Natural History Museum in Santiago, Chile, where it has been held since 1870.