MEXICO CITY (Reuters) - Mexico plans to press Austria once again to return a centuries old bejewelled feather headdress now in an Austrian museum, Foreign Minister Luis Ernesto Derbez said on Thursday.
"It is an archaeological piece of incalculable value for the history of our nation," said Derbez at a news conference.
President
Vicente Fox will personally ask for its return at a summit of Latin American and European leaders in Vienna in May if there is no progress before then.
"If we are still without results at the time of the May meeting in Austria, we will reiterate via the president our request to the government that this be resolved," Derbez said.
Fox already asked Austrian President Heinz Fischer during a visit to Mexico in 2005 to return the piece. Many Mexicans consider the headdress their country's single most important relic.
The artifact is nearly a yard (metre) wide and made from more than 450 elegant, vivid green feathers of the quetzal bird mounted in a jewel and gold encrusted crown.
According to popular belief, it originally belonged to Moctezuma, the Aztec emperor defeated by Spanish invaders in the 16th century, although historians say its true origins are unknown.
Despite some positive noises from Austria, there is opposition to returning the headdress - including from the Vienna museum that holds it.
The piece is believed to have arrived in Europe at some point in the 16th century. Some say it was part of the booty sent back by conquistador Hernan Cortes after his 1519 attack on Mexico.
According to Vienna's Museum of Ethnology, it later fell into the hands of Austria's Archduke Ferdinand of Tyrol.
Some experts say it finally became public property in Austria when it was donated to the museum during the Second World War by a private collector..............IVE BEEN TO THE MUSEO DE ANTROPOLOGIA IN MEXICO CITY AND THEY HAVE A REPLICA OF THE CROWN..ITS BEUTIFUL TO ME.ITS SAD THAT THESE EUROPEANS BELEIVE IT BELONGS TO THEM.
"It is an archaeological piece of incalculable value for the history of our nation," said Derbez at a news conference.
President
Vicente Fox will personally ask for its return at a summit of Latin American and European leaders in Vienna in May if there is no progress before then.
"If we are still without results at the time of the May meeting in Austria, we will reiterate via the president our request to the government that this be resolved," Derbez said.
Fox already asked Austrian President Heinz Fischer during a visit to Mexico in 2005 to return the piece. Many Mexicans consider the headdress their country's single most important relic.
The artifact is nearly a yard (metre) wide and made from more than 450 elegant, vivid green feathers of the quetzal bird mounted in a jewel and gold encrusted crown.
According to popular belief, it originally belonged to Moctezuma, the Aztec emperor defeated by Spanish invaders in the 16th century, although historians say its true origins are unknown.
Despite some positive noises from Austria, there is opposition to returning the headdress - including from the Vienna museum that holds it.
The piece is believed to have arrived in Europe at some point in the 16th century. Some say it was part of the booty sent back by conquistador Hernan Cortes after his 1519 attack on Mexico.
According to Vienna's Museum of Ethnology, it later fell into the hands of Austria's Archduke Ferdinand of Tyrol.
Some experts say it finally became public property in Austria when it was donated to the museum during the Second World War by a private collector..............IVE BEEN TO THE MUSEO DE ANTROPOLOGIA IN MEXICO CITY AND THEY HAVE A REPLICA OF THE CROWN..ITS BEUTIFUL TO ME.ITS SAD THAT THESE EUROPEANS BELEIVE IT BELONGS TO THEM.
