The mexica disc which represented the journey through the underworld of the seven warrior gods

In this room appear symbols of the journey through the underworld of the seven warrior gods of the Mexica cosmogony. These warriors they were stars incarnated who made a cyclical trip that this 500-year-old piece told: a disc made of more than 15 thousand tiny turquoise tiles, most of which measure less than 1 mm by 1 mm.

"In the Nahua worldview, turquoise was badociated with fire, time, real power and political succession", explained archeologist Emiliano Melgar, one of the curators of the temporary sample Stones of fire and water, in the Museum of the main temple (MTM), where you can see the treasure of Mexica.

As explained by National Institute of Anthropology and History (INAH), Thanks to a declaration, the piece was able to recover the splendor that it had five centuries ago thanks to a restoration process that lasted nine months.

H are represented on the diskuitzilopochtli, Tlahuizcalpantecuhtli, Mixcoatl and the god of corn, for turquoise was the insignia of these deities.

The disc, 28 centimeters in diameter, was found in 1994 under the Casa de las Ajaracas and Offer 99, where it was found, is dated from 1502 to 1520.

It is about The first time this pre-Hispanic treasure can be seen in an exhibition in Mexicobecause he had already been exposed in the sample Kingdoms of gold, present J. Paul Getty and The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, USA.

It is thanks to the financial support of the Getty Research Institute that the restoration, by Alejandra Candela.

The restorer has defined the pieces as "the head of a pin", because each tile measures less than 1 mm by 1 mm, the restoration is thus under a microscope.

To restore the room A drawing in Photoshop of more than 15,000 tiles was created and printed on acetates. The mosaic was divided into eight zones: the center and the sections where the warrior gods appear.

Then, each tile was disbadembled to remove its old adhesive and a special solution was applied, restoring the internal structure of the mineral. Already consolidated, they were placed with a flexible adhesive and, like a mirror, on the acetates. A wooden stand has also been manufactured to give stability to the room.

It is thought that the disc was made by the master craftsmen of the totocalli, one of the salons of Palace of Moctezuma II and that turquoise blue had a more intense origin, but over time, it has lost its intensity.

Stones of fire and water. Turquoises and jades at the Nahuas he will stay until Sunday March 24 at the Templo Mayor Museum.