By Monica Rubalcava |
Los Angeles (USA) (EFE).- The California Science Center museum in Los Angeles (USA) houses the greatness of the Mayan civilization in “Maya: The Exhibition”, an exhibition that seeks to show its history and the living that follows its culture through 250 original pieces.
“There are many Mayan people living in this region of the United States and we believe it is very important that we share this with them and with the rest of the population,” said the museum’s director, Jeffrey N. Rudolph, in an interview with EFE.
The exhibition immerses attendees in the Mayan jungle in an interactive exhibition that describes the worldview of the Mesoamerican civilization that had its heyday in the classical period.
“There are different aspects that make the Mayan culture so special, especially its enormous achievements in the field of science, architecture or hieroglyphic writing. The Mayans were the only people on the continent that wrote their entire history,” said Nikolai Grube, curator of the exhibition and professor at the University of Bonn (Germany).
Mayan tradition badges
A majestic three meter long sculpture in the form of a warrior with a jaguar mask, a jade and obsidian mask, a ceramic censer in the shape of the Ancient Goddess, as well as a Mayan stela are part of the exhibition.
Everyday objects such as pottery and cooking instruments, even jewelry made of precious stones and current textiles from living communities, introduce viewers to a world where the balance between nature, divinities and science converged organically.
“There is no specific jewel throughout the exhibition, but one piece that stands out among all of them, without a doubt, is the large stucco figure of the reclining jaguar,” says Grube.
The sculpture was excavated by peasants in an unstudied place, illegally, and they tried to sell it on the black market.
In the end, the piece remained under the protection of the Fundación Ruta Maya de Guatemala, an organization that worked in collaboration with the US museum for the exhibition, and since then it has been exhibited on numerous occasions.
“We are not sure what this jaguar represents yet, it may be a deity. The Mayans thought that the sun at night transformed into a jaguar and then was born as the sun, but it can also be a warrior,” said the anthropologist.
Actuality, empathy and migration
The Mayan community is one of the largest indigenous groups today. It is estimated that more than seven million Mayans live throughout the world, Guatemala being the country where most of them live.
The difficulties they are going through due to poverty and precariousness in their countries have forced many of them to move to the north of the continent and there is also an indigenous community in the United States, normally invisible.
“I think (the exhibition) is a good way to recognize that indigenous populations still exist. The exhibition shows what we were, but there is a part that teaches that the indigenous people continue to exist, that it is a present,” explained Génesis Ek, a member of Indigenous Communities in Leadership (CIELO).
Grube believes that showing the exhibition in a country like the United States can generate empathy in those who reject migrants from Latin America.
“I am sure that this exhibition, which also has a focus on the present, can show that migrants today are not people without history and culture, but that they are the heirs of an ancient culture and that their motivation to migrate is the precarious conditions in which they live”, he points out.
The exhibition opens its doors to the public on April 2 and will be accompanied by the IMAX screening of the film “Mystery of the Maya.”
