Before I did my newsreport on the Trader Joe's strike about Tomato farmgrower wages and working conditions, I wanted to do an article about the battle for Montezuma's headdress. However, I couldn't tie it to Aztec dancing becasue the only one who has actually taken photographic evidence of it is Professor Hutchinson. So I couldn't actually find an article that touched on the fact that people danced Aztec dances outside the Vienna museum as a form of protest. Long story short, the Mexican people feel that the famed headdress should be in Mexico, and that it belongs to the Mexican people. However, Vienna still has the headdress. They are, however, discussing an exchange for a very old buggy that Mexico has. There have also been talks about loaning it to Mexico temporarily. As far as I know, no resolution has been made.
This is Montezuma's headdress at the museum in Vienna. 
Montezuma in his headdress
Photo of the headdress.
It's interesting that Vienna would have such an artifact. The value of such an item is potentially the main reason that I think that Vienna would keep it but I am not too sure. You mentioned that there was a buggy in Mexico. Was this Buggy made in Vienna and significant to their history? If so don't you think that they would rather have something more intertwined within their history than that of another places? I thought this was an interesting concept.
ReplyDeleteThe carriage in question is a ceremonial carriage used by Emperor Maximilian, a member of the Austrian royal family. The carriage is housed in Mexico because Maximilian was imposed as ruler of Mexico by the French from 1863 to 1867. here's the shortcut to see a photo:
ReplyDeletehttp://img718.imageshack.us/img718/6308/maximilliancarriage.jpg
If the shortcut doesnt work just look up "Emperor Maximiluan Carriage"
How did Vienna get the headdress?
ReplyDeleteAs an art history major, I find that this happens a lot. Italian art will end up in a French museum. Egyptian art will end up on and Italian museum. There doesn't seem to be any rules on this. Like whoever discovers/finds the art/artifact has possession. At least that's what they used to do.