Mexico and Central America Gallery Illustrates Power, Diversity, and Influence in the Ancient Americas

PHILADELPHIA – Opening November 16, 2019, the Penn Museum’s Mexico and Central America Gallery examines the region’s distinct societies, as well as the connections between political and divine power—when rulers enlisted forces of nature and celestial objects to reinforce their roles of authority.

Through 250 stunning artifacts—many of which have never been on display—and their universal, relatable stories, the 2,000-square-foot Mexico and Central America Gallery spans more than 3,000 years of history and timeless human experiences, from shared ideas about politics and the divine world to a common calendar.

Highlighting the Museum’s history of innovative archaeological research across the region, the new gallery explores the stories of powerful ancient civilizations including the Maya, Aztec, and Zapotec. Guests will encounter ancient cities, uncovering the meanings of cosmological symbols and the traditions of people living in Mexico and Central America today.

“The reimagined Mexico and Central America Gallery offers a new vision of ritual and power in the ancient Americas. Featuring works of cultural significance and artistic achievement—some created as much as three millennia before the arrival of Europeans—it shows how distinct regional identities were closely linked by their common histories and ongoing interactions,” says Simon Martin, Lead Curator and one of the few people in the world who can read Maya hieroglyphs. “The gallery brings you face-to-face with some of the earliest rulers and most enigmatic deities in the ancient Americas.”

Unique to this world-renowned collection are its breathtaking sculptures, including four majestic Maya stone monuments from sites in Guatemala and Honduras. One of these, a renowned monument known to archaeologists as Stela 14 (from Piedras Negras, ca. 761 CE), helped researchers to crack the code in deciphering Maya writing during the 1960s. This finely preserved towering artifact celebrates the accession of a local king in 758 CE and includes the hieroglyphic names of the sculptors who carved it.

Across the gallery sits the Water Goddess of Teotihuacan, a mysterious fertility deity. This is one of only two such complete sculptures ever found—the other is in Mexico City. Another corner of the gallery traces the legacy of Maya weaving with elaborately embroidered textiles that are still woven and worn by living Maya people today. Although they’ve changed over time, these textiles retain their connections to their origins. In addition, there are exceptional carved jade pieces, brilliant gold figurines, and a massive conch shell—thought to have come from the sacred precinct at the heart of the Aztec Empire.

“Rare and important Aztec sculptures mingle with the largest collection of Maya stelae outside Mesoamerica. Olmec jade and Zapotec obsidian retain a luster that is only outshone by the gold from Costa Rica and Panama. Paraphernalia of the ritual ballgame on the Gulf Coast join the portraits of ancestors and heroes from West Mexico, both facing the stony stare of memorial masks from Teotihuacan,” Martin adds. “It presents many intriguing and powerful objects, but its greater goal is to give the cultural legacy of our continent the stature and prominence it truly deserves.”

Enhanced with multimedia elements, the Mexico and Central America Gallery provides a comprehensive view of the area’s societies through contemporary videos, a listening bench for visitors to hear living languages that are the direct descendants of those spoken long ago, and a hieroglyph writing section, where people can create their own names in Maya glyphs.

Also Opening November 16

Other reimagined areas opening as a part of the Penn Museum’s Building Transformation include the Main Entrance and the adjacent Sphinx Gallery, a space created by the Museum’s construction project with the 25,000-pound Sphinx of the Pharaoh Ramses II at its heart; a suite of Africa Galleries; and the restored Harrison Auditorium, a 614-seat performance venue first constructed in 1915.