Americas: Module 9

Feathered headdress, Aztec, reproduction (National Anthropology Museum, Mexico City)

The picture above is a replica in Mexico City, while the original headdress is currently located at a museum in Vienna, Austria. It was sent to Europe by Hernan Cortez, the Spanish conquistador who defeated the Aztecs. He was nothing short of overwhelmed by the beauty in much of what he saw in the Aztec kingdom, especially this feathered headdress, and sent it back to Charles V in Spain. Even though this is a replica, it gives us a good sense of what some of the other Aztec feathered objects would have looked like. All 450 of the green headdress' feathers come from the tails of the male quetzal. These birds typically only have 2-3 of these very special tail feathers so you can imagine how many birds this took to create. The quetzals come from Central America in places such as Costa Rica which speaks to the long distance trade as well as tribute items (paid by conquered cities to the Aztecs), that are sent back to Tenochtitlan, the Aztec capital. Along with the quetzal feathers, the headdress includes pure gold ornaments and other feathers of numerous birds towards the center of a bright turquoise blue color. 

Over the last century and a half, there have been a recent number of voices calling for the Penacho of Moctezuma II, a feathered headdress, to be returned to its original resting place in Mexico. A formal request in 1991 was sent by the Mexican government asking specifically for its return. There was a study paid for by the Austrian government, claiming that a safe return of the headdress would be "impossible without a specially designed case to protect it from the vibrations caused by flight."

This study got me thinking. How was it transported to Austria in the first place without damage? You would think that in the early 16th century that they would be unable... but now?! Regardless, the study said that the only safe way to transport the artifact to Mexico would require a plane 984 feet long (the size of 2.7. football fields) and 164 feet high to cushion the vibrations created by take off and landing. No such plane exists in the present time so return of this item is EXTREMELY unlikely. In the meantime, any visitor or inhabitant Mexico City has to be satisfied with a still rather spectacular replica of the headdress. 

Sources

“158. Ruler's Feather Headdress (Probably of Moctezuma II) - AP Art History.” Google Sites. Accessed March 25, 2021. https://sites.google.com/site/adairarthistory/v-indigenous-americas/158-rulers-feather-headdress-probably-of-moctezuma-ii. 

“Aztec Feathered Headdress: Backstory (Article).” Khan Academy. Khan Academy. Accessed March 25, 2021. https://www.khanacademy.org/humanities/art-americas/early-cultures/aztec-mexica/a/aztec-feathered-headdress-backstory. 

Dr. Lauren Kilroy-Ewbank and Dr. Beth Harris, Dr. Lauren Kilroy-Ewbank, and Dr. Beth Harris. “Aztec Feathered Headdress.” Smarthistory. Accessed March 25, 2021. https://smarthistory.org/feathered-headdress-aztec/. 

The Jakarta Post. “Mexico Urges Austria to Return Moctezuma's Headdress.” The Jakarta Post. Accessed March 25, 2021. https://www.thejakartapost.com/life/2020/10/13/mexico-urges-austria-to-return-moctezumas-headdress.html. 

Mikanowski, Jacob. “The Fight to Bring Home the Headdress of an Aztec Emperor.” Atlas Obscura. Atlas Obscura, November 21, 2020. https://www.atlasobscura.com/articles/moctezuma-headdress-mexico-austria.