Palais des Nonnes, à Chichen-Itza, Façade de l'Aile Gauche
Photograph
Palais des Nonnes, à Chichen-Itza, Façade de l'Aile Gauche
Nun's Palace; Facade of the Left Side
From the album Monuments Aztèques du Mexique
1860
Albumen silver print
Image: 17 1/4 × 13 9/16 in. (43.8 × 34.5 cm)
Mount: 23 1/2 × 23 1/2 in. (59.7 × 59.7 cm)
Gift of Eastman Kodak Company, ex-collection Gabriel Cromer
1973.0199.0001
Inscriptions Inscribed in pencil, mount recto, BL: Left wing of the Nunnery of Chiche-Itza
Inscribed in pencil, mount recto, BL: X
Inscribed in black ink, mount recto, TRC: 71° 990 1.
[photograph 1973.0199.0002 is mounted on verso]
Inscribed in pencil, mount recto, BL: X
Inscribed in black ink, mount recto, TRC: 71° 990 1.
[photograph 1973.0199.0002 is mounted on verso]
TextIn 1857, the French Ministry of Public Instruction assigned a diplomatic post in Mexico to Désiré Charnay, who was living in New Orleans. Driven by his belief that Mesoamerican civilization derived exclusively from the Toltecs—which he erroneously believed to have descended from the Aryans of Northern Europe—Charnay organized a photographic expedition (1858–60) to important archaeological sites, including Mitla, Palenque, Uxmal, and Chichén Itzá. The supposed continuity Charnay traced from the “Aryan” Toltecs to the Aryans now populating North America was a deliberate attempt to sever all claims contemporary indigenous peoples had to their ancient past, and it served as the archaeological cornerstone for United States primacy in the region.
