Since the 1990s, Mexico has reclaimed the Moctezuma feather headdress, which is on display in Vienna. Now Austria is accused of having traded away even the crown.
It is no secret that Mexico wants Moctezuma’s valuable feather crown (which probably never belonged to the famous Aztec ruler but to a priest) back. Already in the early 1990s, groups formed demanding the return of the object, a copy of which is in Mexico, but the original is in the Weltmuseum Vienna.
Now Beatriz Gutiérrez Müller, not only a historian but also the wife of Mexican President Andrés Manuel López Obrador, succeeded again.
According to Mexican media, she accused the Republic of Austria during a press conference of deliberately withholding information about the actual state of the exhibition. She further speculated that the feather crown may have been damaged or even replaced by another.
They won’t give up until the jewelry is back in Mexico. Müller dismissed the Wereldmuseum’s earlier concerns that the crown could be damaged during transport to Mexico. We have the specialists and the technology to ensure accident-free transport.
In Vienna, people are surprised by the new accusations. The condition of the property must still be impeccable. According to information from “Krone”, there has never been an official request for return from the state of Mexico. The claim that Austria would refuse to return the jewelry would also be absurd. In 2021, the only request was to borrow the crown for an exhibition.
This had to be rejected due to the fragility of the exhibition specimen.
Source: Krone
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