A significant 16th-century Mexican manuscript depicting Aztec history through pictograms was exhibited in Mexico City on Thursday, nearly 200 years after it was taken to France. The Codex Azcatitlan portrays the Aztec civilization’s origins, expansion, and eventual downfall during the Spanish conquest, which introduced Christianity to the region.
Mexico has long sought the return of the codex, which remains in the possession of France’s National Library. The institution loaned two folios of the manuscript to Mexico to mark 200 years of diplomatic relations between the two countries. However, Mexico continues to press France for the permanent repatriation of the document. Indigenous activists and cultural advocates welcomed the exhibition, viewing it as a symbolic step toward reclaiming a vital part of their heritage. Emilia Mendoza, of the Hnahnu community, expressed strong emotions at the event, saying, “They hid our history from us, they stole it.”
Mexico’s Foreign Minister Roberto Velasco emphasized the significance of the display in reconnecting the public with its ancestral history. He described the pictograms as “the written voice of our ancestors, and the deep root of our identity.”
The Codex Azcatitlan, created shortly after the Spanish arrival in the 16th century, is considered one of the most crucial records of Aztec culture. It details the migration from Aztlan, the mythical Aztec homeland, to Tenochtitlan, the city that preceded modern Mexico City. The manuscript is renowned for colorful illustrations featuring warriors in feathered headdresses and ritual scenes set inside pyramid temples, rendered in red, blue, green, and yellow hues.
The manuscript’s journey to France began in the 19th century. It was donated in 1898 to the National Library of France by the widow of Eugene Goupil, a Franco-Mexican collector. Originally brought to France around the mid-1800s by Joseph Marius Alexis Aubin, a French researcher specialized in Indigenous American cultures, the codex has been held by France for over a century. Alongside the Codex Azcatitlan, another important Aztec document, the Codex Borbonicus—which illustrates divinatory and solar calendars—is housed in France’s National Assembly library.
The question of returning colonial-era cultural artifacts has been a point of contention between Mexico and France for decades. In 1982, tensions escalated when a Mexican lawyer, Jose Luis Castaneda, took the Codex Tonalamatl from the French National Library and returned it to Mexico. France condemned the act as theft, while Mexico celebrated it as reclaiming a cultural treasure. Despite these conflicts, both the National Assembly and National Library of France assert legal ownership over the codices in their care.
Mexico has intensified efforts to repatriate cultural heritage objects held abroad, with over 16,200 items returned to the country since 2018, according to the National Institute of Anthropology and History. The loan of the Codex Azcatitlan is viewed by many in Mexico not only as a cultural event but also as an ongoing negotiation over the stewardship of Indigenous historical artifacts.