Mexico City - The La Fraternidad mural by Mexican artist Rufino Tamayo (1899-1991) has been returned to the United Nations headquarters in New York after undergoing a five-year restoration process, the Mexican Foreign Relations Secretariat said.

The restored mural was unveiled at a ceremony last week attended by Mexican Foreign Relations Undersecretary for Multilateral Affairs and Human Rights Juan Manuel Gomez Robledo and Susana Malcorra, chief of staff for U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, among other officials.

Lawmakers from Mexico's Durango state, where the mural was on display for four years at the state legislature, also attended the ceremony.

The mural, initially called El Fuego Creador, was painted by Tamayo in San Antonio, Texas, in 1968 at the request of the Industry and Commerce Secretariat for Mexico's pavillion at the 1968 World's Fair, called HemisFair '68.

The work was one of a series of murals that featured fire as their main theme.

Tamayo and his wife, Olga, donated the mural to the United Nations on Oct. 29, 1971, in the name of the Mexican government.

Tamayo, who was born in the southern state of Oaxaca and died in Mexico City, was one of the first Latin American artists to participate in the muralist movement that flourished between the world wars.