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A totem pole which had been located in Stockholm recently started its journey back to Canada. The nine-metre-high totem was commissioned by Chief G'psgolox in the 1870s, as a tribute to the spirits who helped his people survive an epidemic that ravaged the surrounding area. There are several theories how it got to Sweden, and one of them says that is was purchased by a representative of the Swedish government from someone who was not authorized to sell it and then donated to Ethnographic Museum in 1929. This is in fact the first cultural relic that was voluntarily returned to motherland, though it has taken more than 10 years to raise the necessary funds to return it (the agreement was received in 1994). A totem’s replica will be displayed outside the Ethnographic Museum in Stockholm.
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