The headdress in Austria is the only one of its kind and it’s not only a work of art, but a representation of the identity and landscape of Mexico that was stripped from the nation by colonial forces.
Aztec
A Serpentine Example of Aztec Body Modification Slithers into The Met
The Aztec rulers often expressed their power with body modification, such as labrets pierced through the lower lip.
Plumage of the Saints: Aztec Feather Art in the Age of Colonialism
In a 16th-century triptych of the crucifixion at the Musée National de la Renaissance, north of Paris, Christ has wings. In fact the whole piece is made of feathers.
Modeling Life, Death, and Eternity in the Ancient Americas
Miniature mummies carved from wood and carefully wrapped in tiny shrouds overlook a model of a Chimú palace, one of the small-scale representations of a lost precolonial world in Design for Eternity: Architectural Models from the Ancient Americas.
The Pre-Columbian Origins of Mexico’s Modernist Architecture
In his monograph Pyramid, published by Toluca Éditions, photographer Pablo López Luz explores the pre-Columbian influence on modernist architecture in Mexico.
A Historic Manuscript on Aztec Life Is “Virtually Repatriated”
One of the major textual resources on pre-Columbian Mexico is now online in a digital platform launched this month.
Vatican to Digitize 41 Million Pages of Ancient Manuscripts
What happens when a wide swath of history — previously only explored by white-gloved librarians and erudite historians — is made available to anyone with a solid internet connection? Thanks to the Pope, we’ll soon find out.