Volume 37, Number 19 · December 6, 1990
The Power of Ancient Mexican Art
By Octavio Paz, Translated by Anthony Stanton
On August 13, 1790, during excavation work by the municipal authorities, the workers were digging up the Central Square in Mexico City when they discovered a colossal statue. It was unearthed and turned out to be a sculpture of the goddess Coatlicue, the 'Lady of the Serpent Skirt.' Viceroy Revillagigedo immediately ordered that it be taken to the Royal and Pontifical University of Mexico as a 'monument of America's ancient past.' Carlos III had donated a collection of plaster replicas of Greco-Roman works to the university some years earlier and the Coatlicue was placed among them. But not for very long. A few months later, the learned men of the university decided it should be buried again in the same place where it had been discovered. The Aztec idol might have rekindled ancient beliefs in the memories of the Indians and, above all, its presence in the cloisters was seen as an insult to the very idea of beauty.
Feature, 4343 words
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