Aztec codex returns to Mexico after centuries in France
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After being taken to France in the 19th century, the Codex Azcatitlan will return to Mexico to be displayed at the National Museum of Anthropology this Thursday.
The exhibit marks 200 years of diplomatic relations between Mexico and France. Historian Jorge Cañizares-Esguerra explained the codex offers a detailed account of the Mexica people’s journey from Aztlán to the founding of Mexico-Tenochtitlan, their rulers, the Spanish conquest, and the beginning of New Spain.
Cañizares-Esguerra also noted the document provides a unique perspective from Tlatelolco rather than Tenochtitlan, and documents both migration and conquest. He stated the codex could be used to demonstrate a glorious Aztec past and create a sense of national identity. However, he also revealed research indicates the codex is a 17th-century forgery created by an Otomi arriero named Diego García, who skillfully crafted false codices from original materials.
María Castañeda de la Paz, an anthropologist, has extensively studied García and his workshop, finding similarities between the Azcatitlan and other forged codices. Despite its questionable origins, the codex is valuable because it reveals the political motivations of the communities who commissioned García to create new origin stories connecting them to Diego Austria Mendoza Moctezuma.
The codex passed through several hands, including those of Fernando de Alva Ixtlilxóchitl, Carlos de Sigüenza y Góngora, Lorenzo Boturini, and Joseph Marius Alexis Aubin, before ending up in the National Library of France.
