CULTURE-HONDURAS: Mayan Treasures Europe Bound

By Thelma Mejía Reprint | | Print |

Thelma Mejia

TEGUCIGALPA, Feb 25 1997 (IPS) - Archeological treasures of the Mayan empire will be exhibited in Europe later this year to help spread the wonders of the ancient indigenous culture – and promote tourism in Honduras.

From April, through to January 1998, galleries in the abbey of Dauolas in France and at the Palazzo Reale in Milan will exhibit 319 authentic archeological pieces of the Mayan culture and other indigenous groups.

The pieces include the skeleton of a shaman, one of the most venerated figures among the Mayas, as councillor, priest, healer and conciliator in conflicts. The Shaman was like a god to the Mayas, who expressed their gratitude for his council with offerings of fruit, jewels, pelts and stone sculptures.

The skeleton to be displayed in France and Italy, considered an invaluable archeological relic, dates back to the year 600 A.D., and was found when the Mayan city of Copan was discovered in western Honduras.

The exhibition will be the first held overseas individually by Honduras since the UN Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO) declared the region of Copan a World Heritage Site in 1988.

Olga Joya, director of the Honduran Institute of Anthropology and History told IPS that the exposition in Europe was an initiative of the Italian government, which proposed the idea three years ago. The exposition ‘Tesori Maya Dall’Antica Citta de Copan’ (Mayan Treasure from the Ancient City of Copan) has been in preparation since then, she added.

The aim of the exhibition idea is to disseminate Mayan culture and other archeological finds unearthed in Honduras to promote “our patrimony, our culture and our roots,” said Joya.

Researchers specialising in the Mayan civilisation have expressed their concern about the handling of the pieces, because of the public’s ignorance of the terms agreed on for transferring such treasures. Valuable examples of Honduran indigenous culture have been lost in the past, including a representation of one of the 18 Mayan kings.

But the Honduran Institute of Anthropology and History has given assurances that sufficient security measures have been taken. “We can rule out any possible irregularity, because no one has taken such care of the cultural patrimony of Honduras as us, even against the Hondurans themselves,” Joya maintained.

The 319 archaeological pieces to be exhibited in France and Italy are made of ceramics, stone, limestone, jade, obsidian and shell. Of these, 156 are from the Mayan culture of Copan, the cradle of that civilisation. The rest were found in the north- central region of San Pedro Sula and in Comayagua in the south. All the pieces date back to the pre-classic period, from 2000 BC to 300 AD, or the classic period, 300-900 AD.

A total of 4,625 archaeological sites have been discovered in Honduras where the Mayas reigned as they did in what is now Guatemala, Belize, El Salvador and Mexico. The civilisation has been considered one of the world’s wisest and most mysterious. The Mayas used a calendar and the number zero, and a weather-forecasting system that continues today among peasant farmers in Central America.

The Honduran Institute of Tourism hopes that the exhibition’s European tour will promote tourism, the country’s fourth source of hard currency – worth 115 million dollars a year. Europeans formed the bulk of the 310,000 tourists who travelled to Honduras in 1996 – and the 100,000 who visited the Mayan ruins of Copan.