Aztec exhibition - Report from Europe - Brief Article

Magazine Antiques, Nov, 2002 by Miriam Kramer

The Aztecs, who from the fifteenth century until the Spanish conquest in 1519 created a large empire in what is now southern and central Mexico, evolved from a nomadic culture. According to their histories, they came from a mythical island called Aztlan (white land) and their supreme god, Huitzilopochtli, led them to Tenochtitlan (present-day Mexico City) in 1325.

From there, for nearly two hundred years, they subdued the neighboring tribes and turned them into tribute-paying vassals. Although gold was a valued commodity, jade, turquoise, and featherwork were considered more important. The Aztecs produced painted books written in pictograms rather than in words derived from an alphabet.

The spiritual and earthly center of the Aztec world was the Templo Mayor (great temple), which dominated Tenochtitlan and its 140,000 inhabitants. Of their many gods, the two principal ones had shrines in the Templo Mayor. Priests carried out public ceremonies, including human sacrifices, and were greatly respected in Aztec society.

An exhibition devoted to the riches of Aztec culture is on view at the Royal Academy of Arts in London from November 16 until April 11, 2003. Called simply Aztecs, it is supported by the Mexico Tourism Board. A team of curators, including Eduardo Matos Moctezuma and Felipe Solis Olguin from Mexico and Norman Rosenthal, Isabel Carlisle, and Adrian Locke from Britain, devised the show. An illustrated catalogue with essays by Moctezuma, Olguin, and other scholars will be distributed in North America by Harry N. Abrams in the spring of 2003.