France and Mexico Agree to Exchange Pair of Pre-Hispanic Manuscripts

In May 2025, Mexican President Claudia Scheinbaum met with French President Macron in Mexico City. This is Macron’s first official visit to Mexico and an important step in Mexico’s recent efforts to strengthen trade relations with Europe.

While much of the meeting focused on economic relations between the two countries, Scheinbaum also announced that France and Mexico had agreed to temporarily exchange a pair of handwritten transcripts. this Codex AzcatitlanThe exhibition at the Bibliotheque Nationale de France in Paris will travel to Mexico City, where the National Library of Anthropology and History will borrow its Codex Butulini To Paris. According to reports, due to conservation concerns, both paintings are not regularly displayed in their respective libraries and rarely travel. The Art Newspaper.

Two pre-Hispanic illustrated manuscripts both tell the story of the Aztec migration to Tenochtitlan (present-day Mexico City). 16th century italian historian Codex Butulini When he left what was then known as “New Spain,” he was forced to leave the manuscript behind; it has remained in Mexico since 1825.

Mexico has long sought to return various Mesoamerican codices from European collections. Vatican so far refuses to loan or return Codex Borgia or Vatican Codexand France refused to return Bourbon Codex. Rita Sumano, a Mexican heritage expert, said repatriations are complicated and often depend on when they were acquired.

“The return of the codices relies on goodwill, as they were acquired before the 1972 Heritage Law protected them, which adheres to the 1970 UNESCO Convention,” Sumano told The Art Newspaper.

17th century Codex AzcatitlanFor example, it also belonged to Lorenzo Boturini and was eventually acquired by French collector Eugène Goupil. In 1898, two years after his death, his widow donated it to the Bibliothèque nationale de France. Emilia Mendoza, a restitution activist with the group Frente de Defensa de la Cultura Ancestral, hopes the recent exchange of manuscripts will serve as a catalyst for the return of such manuscripts. “The loan is a good sign, but we want something permanent,” she told Tan.