Exile in Vienna 

The first of several amateur restorations took place in 1878, as the sacred feather crown was eaten by moths. 

In 1932 it was placed in a "huge glass cabinet" in the office of the then director of the new Ethnological Museum Fritz Röck and from December 1935 in the permanent exhibition.  

1) - When the Second World War broke out, it was housed in a vault of the Austrian National Bank from 1942 to July 1945. 

 National Bank of Austria

2) - From October 1946 to March 1947 it was transported to Zurich for an exhibition: "Masterpieces from Austria" in the Zurich Museum of Decorative Arts. After that, there was considerable damage to complain about! In 1955 an otherwise undocumented, again unprofessional restoration took place, after which it was mounted on a light-colored fabric.   

3) - The exhibition "Pre-Columbian Art from Mexico and Central America" took place in the Vienna Artist house from December 22nd, 1959 to February 29th, 1960. The crown was exhibited again outside the museum. 

4) - Although access to the showcase was only possible from above and therefore difficult, the crown was removed at least once to take photographs. Differences in the curvature of the front part and in the arrangement of the springs show that a change was made in the assembly. In 1992 it was removed from the showcase and photographed, mounted on black fabric and exhibited in a new showcase.  

5) - A piece of styrofoam was inserted in the upper part of the forehead cutout that was supposed to reproduce the natural curvature of the forehead, as the flat attachment had led to deformations. As before, it was fastened with needles, the lighting by two headlights with motion detectors. It remained in the exhibition until the museum closed in March 2004 for the purpose of “general renovation”.