{"id":676542,"date":"2026-01-06T00:28:11","date_gmt":"2026-01-06T00:28:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/676542\/"},"modified":"2026-01-06T00:28:11","modified_gmt":"2026-01-06T00:28:11","slug":"france-and-mexico-trade-loans-of-colonial-codices-putting-spotlight-on-calls-for-restitution-the-art-newspaper","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/676542\/","title":{"rendered":"France and Mexico trade loans of colonial codices, putting spotlight on calls for restitution – The Art Newspaper"},"content":{"rendered":"

During French President Emmanuel Macron\u2019s visit to Mexico in November, he and Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum agreed to simultaneous loans of two colonial-era codices:\u00a0the Codex Azcatitl\u00e1n<\/a>, held in the Biblioth\u00e8que Nationale de France since 1898, and the Codex Boturini<\/a>, kept in Mexico\u2019s Biblioteca Nacional de Antropolog\u00eda e Historia. Both are rarely exhibited and seldom travel due to conservation concerns.<\/p>\n

The exchange is part of a cultural programme marking the 200th anniversary of relations between France and Mexico, but it has brought new momentum to a long-running campaign calling for the restitution of codices to Mexico, including the Aztec-era Codex Borbonicus, held at the Biblioth\u00e8que de l\u2019Assembl\u00e9e nationale in Paris.<\/p>\n

The codices being exchanged on loan both narrate the Mexica migration from Aztl\u00e1n to Tenochtitlan. The 16th-century Codex Boturini focuses on mythical migration and is named after the Italian historian Lorenzo Boturini<\/a>, who collected several documents before being forced to return them and leave New Spain in 1743. After passing between several owners, the codex has remained in Mexico since 1825.<\/p>\n

The Codex Azcatitl\u00e1n, long believed to date to the mid-16th century, was redated in 2017 by the scholar Mar\u00eda Casta\u00f1eda de la Paz to the second half of the 17th century. Alongside the Mexica migration, it depicts Indigenous rulers, Spanish conquest and the early years under colonial rule.<\/p>\n

\u201cAzcatitl\u00e1n was based on previous models, including the Boturini, and reflects Indigenous dynamics in New Spain,\u201d Casta\u00f1eda says. \u201cIt belongs to a group of codices likely made in the same San Sebasti\u00e1n Atzacoalco workshop to fabricate the noble lineage mainly of Don Diego Garc\u00eda, who lived there, securing prestige in a largely illiterate community.\u201d Codex Azcatitl\u00e1n also once belonged to Boturini; after changing hands several times it was acquired by the French collector Eug\u00e8ne Goupil and, in 1898, his widow donated it to the Biblioth\u00e8que Nationale de France.<\/p>\n

Calling codices home<\/p>\n

Mexico\u2019s efforts to secure the return of codices is part of repatriation efforts<\/a> spearheaded by the former president Andr\u00e9s Manuel L\u00f3pez Obrador (Amlo). In 2020, Amlo\u2019s wife, Beatriz Guti\u00e9rrez Mueller, requested loans of the Codex Borgia and Codex Vaticanus from the Vatican. However, in 2021 Pope Francis donated facsimiles<\/a> of the codices. \u201cOur greater interest lies in the repatriation of these codices, which are important to Mexico,\u201d Sheinbaum said in October<\/a> when she announced Macron\u2019s visit.<\/p>\n

Since 2023, petitions demanding restitution of the Codex Borbonicus have included the Nah\u00f1u people of Otomi origin in the Mexican state of Hidalgo, who consider themselves its rightful owners. The codex has been kept in the Biblioth\u00e8que de l\u2019Assembl\u00e9e Nationale since 1826, when it was bought at auction; calls for its return to Mexico began in the 19th century.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis is not only a restitution claim but a vindication and demonstration of Indigenous peoples\u2019 strength,\u201d says Emilia Mendoza, a spokesperson for Frente de Defensa de la Cultura Ancestral, a group advocating restitution.<\/p>\n

However, the codex\u2019s restitution faces obstacles. A pending bill in France<\/a> states that restitution requests must concern items acquired between 1815 and 1972 that were allegedly stolen, looted, sold under duress or given by someone without authority. The bill is seen as unlikely to pass. On the Mexican side, things are also complicated. \u201cCodices\u2019 repatriation relies on goodwill as they were acquired before the 1972 heritage law protecting them, which adheres to the 1970 Unesco convention,\u201d says Rita Sumano, an expert on Mexican heritage.<\/p>\n

Whether the loans between Mexico City and Paris will influence restitution discussions remains to be seen. Mendoza says: \u201cThe loan is a good signal, but we want something permanent.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"During French President Emmanuel Macron\u2019s visit to Mexico in November, he and Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum agreed to…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":676543,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5309],"tags":[17032,2000,299,36,2132,95127],"class_list":{"0":"post-676542","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-france","8":"tag-colonialism","9":"tag-eu","10":"tag-europe","11":"tag-france","12":"tag-mexico","13":"tag-restitution"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/115845327009511050","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/676542","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=676542"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/676542\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/676543"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=676542"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=676542"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=676542"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}