The Aztec World: A Unique View of a Mighty Empire Exclusive Exhibition at Chicago's Field Museum
CHICAGO.- The Field Museum’s newest exhibition, The Aztec
World, gives visitors a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to
explore the otherworldly grandeur and sophistication of one
of history’s great civilizations. The Field has gathered
nearly 300 artifacts including monumental works in stone,
colorful ceramics, and intricate jewelry made of precious
metals. Many of these treasures will be displayed for the
first time outside Mexico. The artifacts come from Mexico
City’s National Museum of Anthropology, the Templo Mayor
Museum, The Field Museum, and other distinguished museums in
the United States and Mexico.
The Aztec World will be shown exclusively at The Field
Museum—it will not travel to other venues.
Witness the compelling story of how, in just 200 years
(between 1325 and 1521) the Aztecs grew from a nomadic group
to one of the most powerful and influential societies ever
developed, leaving behind a powerful legacy. Discover how an
empire that began in the middle of a lake became the center
of the Mesoamerican world. With spectacular artifacts and
works of art assembled together for the first time, the
exhibition provides a look into the remarkable rise and fall
of the Aztecs.
The journey begins on the bountiful shores of Lake Texcoco
and moves to the heart of Tenochtitlan, the complex, radiant
capital of the Aztec world. Examine the deities, temples,
and sacrificial altars of Aztec religion. Explore the
training, weapons and celebrations of Aztec warriors.
Discover the privileges, treasures, and responsibilities of
Aztec rulers. Marvel at beautiful objects crafted from
precious metals, ceramic, obsidian, greenstone and other
materials to gain a new perspective on Aztec art, science,
trade, cosmology, and religious rituals. Explore life as a
farmer, trader, weaver, warrior, priest, and emperor.
The Field Museum’s approach to the exhibition is unique –
blending art history and anthropological study of Aztec
society as a whole, paying special attention to gender and
class. Elizabeth Brumfiel, professor of anthropology,
Northwestern University, is a co-curator for the exhibition.
“We wanted to include objects that would be used by all the
different kinds of people who contributed to the Aztec
world: farmers, artisans, women, merchants, and warriors, as
well as rulers and priests. We wanted to use these objects
to enter into the daily lives of all the people who created
and sustained the Aztec Empire.”
Field Museum anthropologist Gary Feinman, PhD, is a
co-curator for the exhibition. “We felt it important to
share the rich traditions of this majestic empire. A
generation ago, little attention was paid to pre-Hispanic
history. Today, Latin Americans make up one-third of
Chicago’s population. In our multi-ethnic society, it’s
critical to have an appreciation for different cultures. We
have to move beyond the notion that most advances come from
the Euro-American tradition.”
According to legend, the Aztecs originally emerged from the
earth through seven caves (Chicomostoc) and established
their homeland at Aztlan (Place of the Cranes). They
departed Aztlan following the instructions of their god
Hummingbird on the Left (Huitzilopochtli) who told them they
were not to stop until they saw an eagle perched atop a
cactus. Over the next century, they migrated hundreds of
miles southward, finally encountering the eagle on an island
in Lake Texcoco in 1325. And that is where this exhibition
begins—an imposing stone eagle-shaped cuauhxicalli, or
offering vessel, welcomes visitors into The Aztec World.
Surrounded by volcanic peaks, Lake Texcoco was a scenic
setting, but much was required to make it habitable. The
Aztecs drained marshes, laid out canals, built causeways and
expanded their islands by sinking timbers in the water.
Eventually, the great city of Tenochtitlan arose – a marvel
of engineering. At its height the city had 200,000
inhabitants and contained 60,000 buildings. It was so
fabulous, a Spanish soldier later wrote: “Great towers and
temples...seemed to rise out of the water...never before did
man see, hear, or dream of anything equal to the spectacle.”
Hilary Hansen, Field Museum exhibition project manager,
observes, “The Aztecs were ingenious and resourceful,
building on other peoples’ ideas, such as aqueducts,
terracing, and creating artificial islands (chinampas) for
crop production. They learned new ways of growing food, had
clean water, and built ecologically correct sewer systems
that recycled human waste as fertilizer. These were
problem-solving people.”
The Aztec World is organized so that visitors move from the
periphery to the city center, passing farms and houses of
artisans, merchants and warriors, before entering the
splendor of the central temple district surrounded by the
palaces of the ruling elite
Traveling through the exhibition, visitors—like the
Aztecs—first encounter Lake Texcoco. Here, they’ll learn the
importance of cosmic forces and the Aztec gods, and see
up-close the gorgeous blue pot depicting Tlaloc, the rain
deity, and the stone sculpture of Chalchiuhtlicue, the water
deity. Walking on, visitors will encounter farmers and
discover that life was centered on home and hearth. Women
prepared food, wove cloth, harvested and processed maguey
sap, and sold their wares in the markets, while men farmed,
labored as construction workers, and performed military
service. Both men and women made daily offerings to the gods
of food, incense, and prayer. On important occasions,
commoners offered the gods blood drawn from their own
earlobes.
Aztec farmers responded to the challenges of dense
populations and urban growth in the Valley of Mexico by two
innovative agricultural techniques. The first was chinampa
agriculture, mounding up earth in swampy areas to create
artificial fields. The second technique was the use of
maguey plants to limit soil erosion on the slopes
surrounding the Valley of Mexico and to provide nourishment
and income during the winter season when maize production
was not possible.
“The Aztec World emphasizes that contributions from every
level of society were important. Visitors to the exhibition
will see that many Aztecs were ordinary people just like
them who raised families, went to work, paid taxes,
celebrated good times, had rites of passage, and were
spiritual,” Hansen explains.
In the farming section, visitors will find charming figures
of family members, including their beloved pet dogs,
utensils, goddess figurines, musical instruments, pipes, and
vessels for the all-important feast days. One of Dr.
Feinman’s favorite artifacts is a bowl for the fermented
drink pulque in the form of a rabbit lying on its side. “I
love the idea of a rabbit having ‘one too many,’” he says.
The Aztecs did have a sharp sense of humor, making up
riddles such as, “What is a little blue-green jar filled
with popcorn? It is the sky.”
The Aztecs maintained a complex economy in which three
elements were interwoven: markets, tribute (a type of tax),
and long-distance trade. Artisans crafted tools, utensils,
weapons, and jewelry from obsidian, greenstone (more
precious than gold), wood, and cloth. These valuables, along
with food, were traded in the all-important markets.
“Spanish accounts report that the Aztec markets were larger
and more diverse than the conquistadors had ever seen,” says
Dr. Feinman. “That’s impressive considering these men were
from the Mediterranean, which was then the hotbed of
European commerce.”
The Aztecs found war everywhere: in the cosmos and on earth.
The military played a central role in state religion,
culture, and politics. In the “Warrior” section of The Aztec
World is an artifact Dr. Feinman urges visitors not to miss
the commanding life-size terra cotta masterpiece, Eagle Man,
in his wing-like cape. Scholars think this figure may
represent the soul of a dead warrior—one of many "spirit
warriors" who accompanied the sun on its daily journey
across the sky—or a personification of the sun itself. This
artifact speaks to the importance of war in Aztec society,
the aim of which was to conquer, gather tribute, and take
prisoners for later sacrifice to the gods. Military ideology
even extended to women, as it was believed that childbirth
was similar to combat. As dead warriors accompanied the sun
during its morning rise to the zenith, women who died in
childbirth accompanied the sun during its afternoon descent.
Walking closer to the city center, visitors will encounter a
gallery devoted to the ruling class. While living rich
lives, rulers had many responsibilities, such as building
temples, maintaining the empire’s infrastructure, and
staging religious ceremonies. Here, visitors can admire some
of the riches brought to the emperor via tribute and view
highly decorative sculptures from original temples and
monumental plaques commemorating the coronation of a great
ruler or the completion of a major public aqueduct.
In the heart of Tenochtitlan, the Aztecs built a great
temple district containing more than 70 structures,
dominated by the Templo Mayor, which stood at the center of
the Aztec universe. The temples were symbolic mountains
where the Aztecs communicated with the celestial world and
offered gifts to the gods. Sacrifice—including human
sacrifice—was not unique to the Aztecs, the practice was
found in many Mesoamerican societies. Commoners typically
sacrificed quail, rulers performed “self-sacrifice” or
bloodletting, and human sacrifice—especially of enemy
warriors—was seen as critical to maintaining the cosmic
order.
Culture Lives On
An alliance between Spanish soldiers and thousands of
rebellious indigenous peoples brought the Aztec Empire to an
end, but elements of its culture lives on to this very day.
The Aztecs gave the world their cuisines and medicines, and
provided models of organic farming and sustainable
maintenance of the environment. They inspired the great
Mexican muralist movement of the 20th century and the
rebirth of traditional Mexican arts.
Artifacts in this section attest to the merging of the Aztec
and Spanish cultures, including a stone serpent (an iconic
Aztec image) carved into a baptismal font. Also on display
will be a Spanish sword and helmet, and colonial coins
struck from local silver for the Spanish crown. Visitors
will also discover how the Aztecs still found a way to
preserve their own belief system within the Catholic system
of iconography.