In return, Mexico has agreed to lend another priceless document, the Codex Boturini, to France for display there.
The pictograms in the Codex Boturini narrate the story of the migration of the Aztecs, also known as Mexica, from their ancestral homeland to the shores of Lake Texcoco, where they built Tenochtitlán.
The temporary exchange of the two codices was agreed by Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum and her French counterpart, Emmanuel Macron, during a visit by the latter to Mexico last year.
Mexico has long lobbied for the return of historical artefacts taken from the country in past centuries.
According to Mexico’s ministry of foreign relations, last year more than 2,000 objects were successfully repatriated.
The Codex Azcatitlán will be exhibited at the National Museum of Anthropology in Mexico City from Thursday.
