MAYA ART 53 



photographs showino; many of thoiii in nature, there are down the middle 

 of the room a series of groups of local breeding birds with their nests. 

 These, the forerunners of our "Habitat Groups," were the first of their 

 kind made for the Museum. [See Guide Leaflet No. 22.] 



SOUTHWEST WING 



Ancient Monuments of Mexico and Central America 



Continuing west past the collection of local birds we enter the south- 

 west wing, devoted to the ancient civilizations of Mexico 

 Maya Art 



and Central America. As the hall is approached casts 



of large upright stones appear completely covered by sculpture. These 

 stones, called .stelae, are found chiefly near Copan in Honduras and 

 represent the highest art of the Maya civilization. 



At the left of the entrance on the south side of the hall is the 

 extensive exhibit from Costa Rica of INIr. Minor Keith. This includes 

 stone sculpture and a great variety of pottery interesting in form and 

 design. To this collection also belongs the gold and jade from Costa 

 Rica arranged in the cases in the center of the hall. 



On the south wall is a copy of the painted sculptures of the Temple of 

 the Jaguars at Chichen Itza. Here are shown warriors in procession who 

 seem to be coming to worship a serpent god. Prayers are represented 

 as coming from their lips. This sculpture while Maya, shows strong 

 evidence of ^lexican influence in certain of its details. 



In the table cases on this side of the hall are facsimile reproductions 

 of native books or codices, which were painted free hand on strips of 

 deerskin, paper, or cloth. Several original documents are also exhil^ted. 

 The Spaniards, in their zeal to destroy the native reUgion, burned 

 hundreds of these books, which recorded ceremonial rites and historical 

 event by means of pictures and hieroglyphs. 



Nearby is a replica of the Calendar Stone, which is a graphic repre- 

 sentation of the four creations and destructions of the world, as well as a 

 symbol of the sun and a record of the divisions of the year. 



In the aisle near the end of the hall stands a copy of the great sacri- 

 ficial stone, or Stone of Tizoc, on which is a record of the principal 

 conquests made before 1487. 



The statue of Coatlicue, the mother of the two principal Aztec 

 gods, is a curious figure, made up of serpents. 



These three sculptures were originally in the Great Temple enclosure 

 at Tenochtitlan, the native name of Mexico City before its conquest by 

 Cortez, but they have been removed to the Mexican National Museum. 



