The
Crown of the Andes is a
votive crown originally made for a large statue of
Mary, the mother of Jesus, in the cathedral of
Popayán, Colombia. The oldest parts of the crown are the orb and cross at the top, which date to the 16th century. The
diadem was made in approximately 1660, and the arches were added around a century later. The crown is adorned with 450
emeralds. The largest, the "Atahualpa Emerald", may have belonged to the Inca Emperor
Atahualpa (1497–1533) and been seized from him when he was captured in 1532 by
Francisco Pizarro, a Spanish
conquistador. In 1936 the crown was sold by its owners to an American businessman. It is now in the collection of the
Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City.
Crown: Unknown. Photograph: Metropolitan Museum of Art