The feathered serpent Quetzalcoatl
(The World of an Object)

The opening of the exhibition took place on April 12th, 2003 on Sunday at 11:00 AM in the MAE (Kunstkammera) RAS.

This basaltic sculpture depicts Quetzalcoatl, one of the most import Aztec gods (Mexico, second half of the 15th century). It was acquired in 1841 in South Mexico near the city of Papantl by Baron Wilhelm Frederich Karvinsky, leader of the St. Petersburg Academy of Science’s expedition to the area. Funding for the expedition was achieved by selling shares in its success. Among the holders of the expedition’s stock were the botanical garden, the zoological, ethnographical, mineralogical, and botanical museums, the academy of sciences, the Moscow and Vilenskaya medical-surgical academies, the headquarters of the mine engineer’s society, and Kazan university.

Unfortunately the vast majority of the expedition’s collected artifacts perished in a shipwreck during their transport; however this feathered-serpent sculpture happened to be in one of the few ships that survived. It entered the collection of the Imperial Hermitage in 1842, and was transferred to the Kunstkammera in 1888.

The god Quetzalcoatl (a serpent covered in the precious green feathers of the Quotl bird) was seen in Aztec mythology as the creator of the world, maker of man and culture, master of nature, god of the morning star, and patron of the priesthood and science. He was the most popular god in the pantheon of the peoples of Central America during the Olmec epoch (12th-16th century BC) In Aztec mythology Quetzalcoatl also figured in as the terrestrial ruler of the Toltec capital Tollan. He was good and wise, however he was driven out by his arch rival, the good Tescatlipoca, who used trickery to beat the good Quetzalcoatl and forced him to flee eastward across the sea. He promised his people he would return one day, and the arrival of the conquistador F. Cortes was initially seen as Quetzalcoatl’s return.

Rostislav Vasilyevich Kinzhalov, honored scientist, doctor of historical sciences, and main scientific worker in the department of American ethnography came up with the concept behind this exhibit.

The exhibit was created as part of the international forum “St. Petersburg: a window to South America,” organized by the Latin American Institute of the RAS in honor of the city’s 300th anniversary. The honored plenipotentiary ambassador of Guatemala, Mr. Louis Alberto Padil, is expected to attend the opening of this exhibit.

Contact: america@kunstkamera.ru