Mexico celebrates independence with exhibition on its pre-Hispanic “greatness”

RIO DE JANEIRO, BRAZIL – The Government of Mexico inaugurated this Monday an exhibition at the National Museum of Anthropology on the “greatness of Mexico” that gathers archaeological pieces and codices returned to the country from other nations, promoting its pre-Hispanic culture.

“Today is a great day, today we commemorate 200 years of our independence, September 27. It is going to be a day of commemorations, of exhibitions on the greatness of Mexico,” said the president, Andrés Manuel López Obrador, during his press conference from the National Palace.

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“The Greatness of Mexico,” explained the Secretary of Culture, Alejandra Frausto, is a grand exhibition where more than 1,500 pieces will be on display. “Of these, more than 900 are seen for the first time, coming from abroad in temporary transfers or from storage warehouses and seizures,” said the Minister of Culture.

This exhibition of pieces from the Mayan, Toltec, Teotihuacan, Aztec and Mixtec cultures will be held in two venues: in the Ibero-American Hall of the Ministry of Public Education (SEP), where 1,145 pieces will be exhibited, and in the National Museum of Anthropology, where 380 pieces will be on display.

Diego Prieto Hernandez, general director of the National Institute of Anthropology and History (INAH), explained that among the objects are 264 national pieces, 879 repatriations from five countries -of the more than 1,500 that have been obtained in the last three years-, as well as two loans of artistic works.

Baltazar Brito, director of the National Library of Anthropology and History and curator of the exhibition, explained that the exhibition covers scenes of everyday life over the centuries and, although it is a broad period, it seeks to be “a mirror in which all Mexicans can see our past.”

The exhibition – which can be visited at both venues until April 2022 – covers four themes: territory, spirituality, individuality, and symbolism.

RECOVERING HERITAGE

Mexican authorities stressed that the current government has worked on the recovery of its heritage abroad. In that sense, Frausto emphasized that so far during the present Government, 5,746 goods have been repatriated, most of them being archeological pieces.

He recalled that only last September 16, Italy informed the Mexican authorities that an auction of 17 Mexican archaeological pieces had been stopped. Although eight pieces had already been auctioned, they were seized and are in the process of being repatriated to the country, which he described as an unprecedented act.

He emphasized the participation of the Carabinieri unit for the Protection of the Cultural Patrimony of Italy, whose commander, Roberto Riccardi, was awarded this Monday with the decoration of the Mexican Order of the Aztec Eagle.

With his help, he said, 633 pieces have been repatriated. “Heritage is not for sale, it is loved and defended,” he stressed.

During the exhibition’s inauguration at INAH, López Obrador thanked the people and associations that preserved Mexico’s historical archives and memory and for lending pieces, codices, and documents for the exhibition.

He also expressed his gratitude to the United States, the Vatican, and, especially, to Italy, who, he said, “gave us pieces like never before in history.”

He emphasized that the Government of Italy is an extraordinary example in the recovery of stolen archaeological pieces and assured that “we are going to follow Italy’s example.” For this reason, he has instructed the National Guard to form a special team to recover pieces.

COINS AND REPRESENTATION WERE PRESENTED

As part of these acts, commemorative coins were presented in which allusion was made to the 700th anniversary of the foundation of the city of Mexico-Tenochtitlan; to the 500th anniversary of the conquest of Hernán Cortés, an event now renamed as “indigenous resistance”, and to the bicentenary of the consummation of the country’s independence.

For his part, Luis Cresencio Sandoval, Secretary of National Defense, indicated that tonight there would be a historical representation of the seven passages that led to the final achievement of independence on September 27, 1821.