Aztecs At The British Museum
In the spirit of the aphorism “a picture is worth a thousand words,” I recommend stopping by the British Museum’s Aztec collection online. They have available 27 photographs (well, 26 if you ignore the crystal skull that’s been proven to be a hoax) of beautiful Aztec and Mixtec artifacts. Among them are statues of Quetzalcoatl, Tezcatlipoca, Mictlantecuhtli, Tlazolteotl, Tlaloc, Xochipilli, and Xipe Totec, as well as a rare mosaic ceremonial shield, a turquoise serpent pectoral, and a sacrificial knife. The images are thought-provoking and intense, as these objects speak wordlessly the vision of the Nahua peoples without Colonial censorship.
Click HERE to visit the British Museum’s Aztec Highlights.
As a bonus, I located an excellent photograph of a jade mask of Xiuhtecuhtli, God of Time and Fire, which is a part of the British Museum’s collection but is not on their website. Thank you Z-m-k for putting your fine photography skills to work on this worthy subject material and for your kindness in sharing it under the Creative Commons Attribution Share-Alike 2.5 License.
Jade Mask of Xiuhtecuhtli
This entry was posted on October 4, 2008 by cehualli. It was filed under Arts & Sciences, Culture, Media, Photo, Religion, Things and was tagged with adorar, antes de la conquista, atl-atl, atlatl, Aztec, Aztec religion, Azteca, ética, belief, British Museum, cache, ceremonial shield, ceremony, Chalchiuhtlicue, Chalco, Colonial, costumbre, creencia, crystal skull hoax, cultura, culture, dios, dioses, drum, Eagle Warrior, ethics, faith, fe, filosofía, flayed, god, goddess, gods, gold, Grand Temple, House of the Bows and Bells, Huey Teocalli, idea, image, indígena, Indian, indigenous, indio, itzpatl, jade, jewelry, knife, la religión de los aztecas, Mesoamerica, Mexica, Mexicayotl, Mexico, Mexico City, Mictlantecuhtli, Mictlanteuctli, mirror, Mixtec, Mixteca, Moctezuma, Montezuma, moral, morality, mosaic, Motecuhzoma, Nahua, obsidian, pectoral, perforator, philosophy, photo, picture, pottery, pre-Columbian, pre-Conquest, Pre-Hispanic, Precolumbian, preconquest, Prehispanic, Quetzalcoatl, reflexión, religion, sacrifice, serpent, statue, stone, tecpatl, Templo Mayor, teología, Teotl, tepetlacalli, teponaztli, Tezcatlipoca, theology, thought, Tlaloc, Tlaxcala, Tlazolteotl, tradicional, traditional, turquoise, worship, Xipe Totec, xiuhcoatl, Xiuhtecuhtli, Xiuhteuctli, Xochipilli.
Tlacatecco 
I was looking at their artifacts in the glory months ago! I think the Brit museum simply must be one of the BEST museums in the entire world. They have a large Aztec/Mixtec collection. Did you check out Tez’s obsidian mirror that John Dee had? 🙂 It’s a cool entry.
I am so going to go to that museum when I go to England someday. I want to see the Burney relief and the Mesoamerican things they have.
There’s another museum there I really want to see too. The witchcraft museum. But that’s so totally OT [off topic] of this blog. LOL
October 4, 2008 at 1:21 AM
I am dying of jealousy right now… One of my dreams is to visit the British Museum and Library. Did you see them there or did you see them on loan to another museum?
FYI, the Aztecs exhibit that’s part of the Museo Del Templo Mayor is going to be in the Chicago Field Museum this spring. If you live anywhere in the area, you don’t want to miss it. I know I’d love to catch it — I’ll have to see if it’s going to come to Boston, or if I missed it. If I did, a trip to Chicago may be in order… I haven’t been back there since I was a little kid anyway, I need to go see the family.
Yeah, that is a cool entry — and I’m going to have to find the Butler poem that references it. (Did I ever mention I’m a fan of Restoration-era British poetry and drama? Oh yeah, FEEL the nerd…)
October 4, 2008 at 1:32 AM
I am such a nerd too. feel free to nerd out all you want. I love learning.
nah never been. Just on the site. XD
I wish you had IM! or do you?
October 4, 2008 at 1:47 AM