MEXICO CITY, July 1 (UPI) -- Mexico is sending a vast treasure of Aztec art to New York for a major pre-Columbian exhibition at the Guggenheim this October, it was announced Thursday.
Felipe Siolis Olguin, director of Mexico's National Anthropological Museum, said many important works never before exhibited outside Mexico will be featured in "The Aztec Empire" show, to run from Oct. 15 through Feb. 15, 2005.
A highlight will be treasures recently excavated at the Aztec Templo Mayor site in Mexico City's main plaza, including fired clay figures of the Eagle Warrior and Mictlantecuhtli, god of the dead.
The 450 works selected for the show also include objects from other major collections in Mexico and the United States, according to Siolis Olguin, who is guest curator. He said a broader chronological and cultural context for the Aztec's achievements will be explored than that provided by any previous exhibition, starting with the Olmec culture of 1200 B.C.
The exhibition is the first survey of Aztec art to be seen in the United States for more than 20 years.
