The writer and historian Beatriz Gutiérrez Müller, wife of Andrés Manuel López Obrador, has undertaken “a mission” that the president of Mexico has described as “almost impossible”: to bring Moctezuma's plume to the country.
The headdress is a set of quetzal feathers, gold, silver and copper that was given by the Aztec emperor to the conqueror Hernán Cortés when the Extremaduran arrived in America in the 16th century.
Mexico has claimed the piece on different occasions, in 1991 and 2011, but the plume remains in the Museum of Ethnology in Vienna.
Gutiérrez met with Austrian President Alexander Van der Bellen this Monday as part of a European visit in which he also met with Pope Francis, the President of Italy, Sergio Mattarella, and the wife of the French President, Brigitte Macron, to request the temporary loan of archaeological pieces to commemorate the patriotic anniversaries that will be celebrated in 2021.
“I recommended [to Beatriz Gutiérrez] that she insist on Moctezuma's plume, although it is an almost impossible mission, given that they have appropriated it completely, to the extent that not even Maximiliano de Habsburgo was lent it when they invaded us and they imposed the so-called Second Mexican Empire, ”López Obrador wrote on Twitter after the historian's meeting with Van der Bellen.
The objective is to expose the recovered pieces, among them Moctezuma's headdress, during the anniversaries of the independence of Mexico (1821), the fifth centenary of the fall of Tenochtitlán [the pre-Hispanic precedent of Mexico City] (1521) and the foundation of the first villas in that city in 1931, which will coincide next year.
The president insisted this Monday, October 12, that Spain apologize for the conquest of the continent and has described the date on which Europe's arrival in America is commemorated as "very controversial".
Days ago, he sent a letter to the Pope in which he also asked Francis to apologize for the abuses of the conquest.
I recommended that he insist on the Moctezuma plume, although it is an almost impossible mission, since they have appropriated it completely, to the extent that not even Maximiliano of Habsburg was lent it when they invaded us and imposed the so-called Second Mexican Empire. .
- Andrés Manuel (@lopezobrador_) October 12, 2020
The Aztec treasure was already requested by Mexico in 1991 when the Government demanded that the European country return the piece and did not obtain a response.
In 2011, Mexican authorities offered a temporary exchange of the plume in exchange for the golden chariot of Emperor Maximilian of Habsburg on display at the National Museum of History in the capital.
But even if Austria accepted the loan of the headdress now, the move would not be easy.
The plume was restored between 2010 and 2012 by experts from the National Institute of Anthropology and History (INAH) within the framework of a cooperation project between Mexico and Austria.
At the time, specialists from both countries agreed that its "fragile state" did not allow transportation by water, land or air until there is a technology "that can prevent any vibration."
The claim of the headdress given in 1519 by Moctezuma, who was unaware of the imminent intention of the conquerors to take his empire, now occurs within the framework of other demands that the Government of López Obrador also imposes on Spain and the Catholic Church.
During his tour of Europe, Gutiérrez Müller has also requested two codices that are currently in Italy: the
Codex Fiorentino,
written between 1540 and 1585 by Fray Bernardino de Sahagún in Nahuatl, Latin and Spanish, and the
Codex Cospi
or
Bologna
, a text that reveals the advances in mathematics and astronomy of the Nahuas prior to the Spanish invasion and which is in the University of Bologna.
The historian and writer has also claimed a series of archaeological pieces from France and will soon visit Germany, according to sources from the Presidency, to continue with the task of bringing to the country, at least temporarily, pre-Hispanic treasures scattered around the world.
Other treasures scattered around the world
Dresden Mayan Codex
It is one of the four Mayan manuscripts that exist worldwide and the most complete of the three that remain.
This 39-page book is part of the collections of the Saxon State Library and the University of Dresden.
It originally arrived in Spain in 1519 sent by Hernán Cortes to the King.
From Spain it traveled to Austria and in 1739, Johann Christian Götze, director of the Dresden Royal Library, bought it from a private owner in Vienna.
During World War II, the codex was hit by bombing and suffered significant water damage, but was restored.
Tezcatlipoca mask
Preserved in the British Museum in London, it is one of the most spectacular masks in the ancient world.
It was made in the 15th century on a human skull inlaid with turquoise, a deerskin covering, and polished iron eyes and a white shell.
Represents Tezcatlipoca, God of heaven and earth, source of life, guardianship and protection of man in the Mexica culture.
The piece was donated to the British museum by the English archaeologist Henry Christy, who acquired it from a dealer and collector named Bram Hertz.
He bought it from a private collection in Bruges, Belgium.
Quetzalcóatl's mask
Two intertwining turquoise green and blue mosaic snakes form the prominent twisted nose and bulging eyes associated with Tlaloc, the god of rain, in this 15th-century mask.
The curator of the British National Museum exhibition, Elisenda Vila Llonch, relates that the priest who served Tlaloc in the Great Temple of Tenochtitlan may have worn a mask like this as part of his outfit.
The museum acquired this piece at an auction from the collection of millionaire Anatole Demidov, the first prince of San Donato, in 1870 in Paris.
Nican Mopohua
A partial copy dated in 1556 of the manuscript with the account in Nahuatl of the apparitions of the Blessed Virgin in Mexico under the invocation of Guadalupe can be found in the New York Public Library since 1880. The documents arrived in the United States through the sale in London of a series of books on Mexico from the personal library of the Mexican historian Jose Fernando Ramírez.
Two headed aztec serpent
This chest ornament is carved from a single piece of cedar wood.
The front of the snake and the two heads are covered with a turquoise mosaic, and the hollowed back of the body was originally gold.
This maquizcóatl could have been an insignia worn or held by an effigy of Huitzilopochtli, according to Commissioner Llonch.
The British National Museum has kept this piece since 1892, when it was purchased for £ 100 from Duchess Massimo, who was acting as a go-between for an anonymous seller.
Bourbon Codex
Necessary for an understanding of the Mexica calendar and associated deities and rituals, this document was in Spain until the War of Independence.
Some time later he arrived in France in an unknown way.
Since 1826 it has been part of the Library of the National Assembly in Paris.
This 14.2 meter long manuscript is the quintessential pictographic document of the group of Aztec codices.