Template:POTD/2018-10-11
The Crown of the Andes is a votive crown originally made for a large statue of Mary, the mother of Jesus, in the cathedral of Popayán, Colombia.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