The Quai
Branly Museum in Paris is presenting another sure-to-be blockbuster exhibition
titled Mayas: Révélation d'un temps sans fin (Maya: Revelation of an
endless time), beginning Oct. 7 and ending next February.
Produced in
Mexico, the show focuses on the civilization created by the Maya peoples of the
pre-Columbian era, and allows visitors to appreciate their “legacy to
humanity”.
“They have
left to posterity dozens of cities with striking architecture, a range of
technically perfect sculpture, numerous frescoes and ceramic vases, and a
detailed record of their religious beliefs, their rituals, their community
life, their habits and their history,” say the curators.
Done
thematically - and covering the relationship to nature, the power of cities,
funeral rites - the show features various aspects of this culture and its
“creative genius”, without omitting the bloody tradition of human sacrifice.
The exhibition
seeks to give both a general overview and to show the variety of styles and
aesthetic achievements of the different Maya groups, each with their own
language and their own forms of expression, according to the museum, which
features collections of objects from the indigenous civilizations of Africa,
Asia, Oceania and the Americas.
Often criticized
as having ”colonial undertones” or “regressive tendencies”, the Quai Branly has
been working with countries and national institutions to give an appropriate
presentation of their collections.
This exhibition was conceived and first shown by Mexico’s Instituto Nacional de
Antropologia e Historia (INAH), highlighting the fact that the Maya
originated in the Yucatán more than four millennia ago and saw their
civilization rise to great heights in present-day southern Mexico, Guatemala and
other areas.
