Azcatitlan Codex returns to Mexico after 186 years, on loan from France

A historic Mexican manuscript — the Azcatitlan Codex, chronicling Aztec history from migration to the Spanish conquest — has returned to Mexico after 186 years of being on loan in France. The 16th-century document, which provides a vivid account of the Mexica empire's origins and decline, is now displayed at Mexico City's National Museum of Anthropology.

Mexico's National Institute of Anthropology and History (INAH) and France's national library have agreed to a temporary, reciprocal exchange of cultural artifacts to celebrate 200 years of diplomatic relations between the two nations. The exhibition, part of the Great Franco-Mexican Festival, also features 25 archaeological and ethnographic objects and facsimiles of nine manuscripts, including the Boturini Codex.

The Azcatitlan Codex, which left Mexico in 1840 to travel through various European collections, now joins the Mexican Boturini Codex in Paris. This exchange highlights Mexico's ongoing efforts to recover pre-Hispanic and colonial-era objects lost to other countries in earlier centuries, as President Claudia Sheinbaum highlighted codices as a priority for return before French President Emmanuel Macron's visit.