Aztec manuscript returns to Mexico after two centuries, on loan

The Azcatitlan Codex, a rare and prized manuscript that recounts the history of the Aztecs in vibrant pictograms, has returned to Mexico for the first time since 1840. It went on display in Mexico City on Thursday.

The codex is a 16th-century artifact and regarded as one of the most important visual records of Aztec history. It records the founding of the Aztec capital to its fall after the subsequent arrival of Spanish conquistadores.

It arrived in Mexico on loan from France's Bibliotheque Nationale, where it has been since 1898. The temporary loan is occurring as the two nations celebrate 200 years of diplomatic ties.

As two folios from the document went on display inside a glass case at the National Museum of Anthropology, Mexican Foreign Minister Roberto Velasco said the exhibition was about "reuniting a population with its (collective) memory."

The pictograms "represent our history, the written voice of our ancestors, and the deep root of our identity," he said, speaking at the inauguration.

Mexico has demanded the treasured artifact be returned for years.

Members of an indigenous group reacted ecstatically to the display. "They hid our history from us, they stole it!" Emilia Mendoza of the Hnahnu community said at the opening exhibition.

"This is a battle won, a first step toward the restitution of these books that reside in other countries," she said.