CULTURAL READINGS: Colonization & Print in the Americas

Jay I. Kislak Foundation

Antonio de León y Gama, Descripción histórica y cronológica de las dos piedras que con occasion del nueve empedrado que se está formando en la plaza principal de Mexico. Mexico City: Felipe de Zúniga y Ontiveros, 1792.

In 1790, while digging up the zócalo of Mexico City as part of a drainage project, workers discovered stones which were thought to relate to the Aztec calendar. The discovery of these antiquities coincided with a rising crescendo of Mexican nationalism and thus had great symbolic value. As León y Gama describes them, the stones are works of art and genius on a par with any European creations. For him, the stones epitomize the cultural sophistication of the Aztecs and are icons to hurl back at the Spanish.

Other illustrations from this edition

Colonial Fictions, Colonial Histories

• Histories
• [Return to] Antiquities
• Captivities

Exhibition Contents | Introduction | Essays | Bibliography & Links