WRITTEN IN FRENCH
In the 19th century, European explorers wrongly called the Aztec people who, having founded the island metropolis of Tenochtitlan in 1325, had created one of the most powerful empires in Mesoamerica. Today, it is time to reintroduce the name assigned to them by their tutelary god and by which they designated themselves: Mexica.
Since 1978, archaeologists from the Proyecto Templo Mayor, under the aegis of the Instituto Nacional de Antropología e Historia (INAH), have exhumed in the historic center of Mexico City a large part of the sacred enclosure of Tenochtitlan, the imperial city of Mexicas, and notably uncovered the remains of the 45 meter high double pyramid of the Templo Mayor.
Among the most notable discoveries are 209 extremely rich offerings that the Mexica people buried to curry favor with their gods. Unique objects or complex assemblages of thousands of precious objects, they reflect the high degree of social, political, economic and religious organization that this empire had reached by the time of the arrival of the Spanish conquistadors in 1519. Their study reveals not not only a dynamic and influential society, but also an art of great aesthetic quality, expression of a fascinating conception of the universe where human beings and gods are intimately linked.
Exhibition at the musée du Quai Branly - Jacques Chirac, from April 3 to September 8, 2024
French
256 pages / 256 illustrations
Co-publishing musée du quai Branly - Jacques Chirac / Éditions El Viso
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