The new ambassador of the Republic of Ecuador (external link, opens in a new window), H.E. Vicente Albornoz, came to the Ibero-Amerikanisches Institut (IAI) on January 28, 2026 with the Minister León Pablo Avilés and the cultural representative Natasha Canelos and was received by Barbara Göbel, Director of the IAI, the Library Director Peter Altekrüger and the Director of the Special Collections Gregor Wolff.
Together they took a look at selected holdings on Ecuador from the IAI Library and Special Collections, including previously unpublished photographs of archaeological sites from the estate of the archaeologist and linguist Max Uhle (1856-1944), who is considered the founder of the systematic archaeology of South America and whose holdings at the IAI include numerous manuscripts, more than 5,000 historical photographs and more than 2,000 negatives from Argentina, Bolivia, Peru and Ecuador. The diverse historical map material on Ecuador from the IAI's Map collection, including large-format atlases and original editions on the geology and geography of Ecuador by Theodor Wolf, who worked as a state geologist in Ecuador between 1870 and 1891, also met with great interest.
Ambassador Vicente Albornoz made a special discovery in the IAI's Collection of periodicals: in an 1896 issue of the Revista de la Sociedad Figaro his grandfather Miguel Angel Albornoz had published a lyrical text.
In the subsequent exchange, the need to further strengthen scientific relations between Germany and Ecuador was emphasized. A network of German-Ecuadorian scientists is currently being established.
