The Museo Regional del Sureste del Peten – Dolores

Posted on 09/08/2023 by Michael

Museo Regional del Sureste del Peten – Dolores

The Museo Regional del Sureste del Peten – Dolores

The principal regional museum is situated in the town of Nuestra Senora de Dolores, at km 401 on the road from Guatemala to the city of Flores, the capital of the Peten department. It opened in 2005 with the mission of preserving and disseminating information about the region’s archaeological heritage.

South-eastern Peten lies in the Maya Mountains in a natural beauty spot comprising diverse elements such as the rivers Xa’an and Mopan, which include natural waterfalls and drops. It also boasts a large cultural legacy thanks to numerous archaeological sites in the area and ruins from the ancient Maya civilisation, some of which have been declared protected national parks by the Guatemalan Directorate-General of Cultural and Natural Heritage.

The museum is situated in the town centre, near the colonial Catholic church, on a natural elevation with magnificent views over the valley. The cultural area occupies two levels: a landscaped square where outdoor cultural activities are organised and the museum itself, which is accessed by a flight of steps at the centre of the main facade.

The museum is divided into four sections: an administrative section and three exhibition sections. The permanent archaeological exhibition features 22 sites and three caves in the region, represented by 129 artefacts, while the chronological spectrum ranges from the Preclassic period (900 BC) to the Postclassic and beyond (AD 1000-1524). The exhibits were all found during excavations conducted as part of a national programme called the Archaeological Atlas of Guatemala, and many of them correspond to offerings associated with burials discovered in residential groups and the core areas of the different sites.

The first room is dedicated to pottery, although there is one display case with materials such as stone, shell and bone. The exhibits vary from projectile points, knives and flint eccentrics to marine material represented by polished star-shaped plaques. There are also several rings, a flower-shaped bezote (ring worn in the upper lip) and a conch necklace. One of the most fascinating pieces in this case is an alabaster vase from an offering at Sacul. The pottery exhibits include incense burners and polychrome globular cooking pots, bowls, plates, dishes and large containers, some of them with iconographic scenes. The last section of the room is given over to a slate sculpture, Stela 1 from Ixtonton.

The remaining sculptures are distributed between the second room and the entrance hall. There are 31 limestone pieces, including fragments of stelae, anthropomorphic heads, various dignitary torsos and two panels, one from Ixtutx composed of six carved fragments, and a four-piece panel from Machaquila. The museum is within easy reach by car or bus from Flores (82 km), and Dolores offers hotels, restaurants, petrol stations, transport routes, banks, etc. Opening hours are Tuesday to Sunday, from 8 am to 4 pm.

Lilian Corzo

From: ‘The Maya: an architectural and landscape guide’, produced jointly by the Junta de Andulacia and the Universidad Autonoma de Mexico, 2010, pp232-233

This is a small, modern museum which displays its small collection in a clear and uncluttered manner. Every object is labelled but the information is only in Spanish.

Helpful staff. Closed on Monday’s (as are most state museums) but they might well open if you arrive when there are people around.

Getting there;

Follow the straight as a die road, that goes through the centre of the town, until it comes to a T-junction where you go up hill two blocks, then turning right at the sign for the dirt road to Ixkun. It’s on the left, up a flight of steps with a fenced area at the top.

Opening times;

Open everyday, except Monday, 08.00-1700

Entrance;

Q30

Copan Sculptural Museum

Posted on 08/08/2023 by Michael

Copan Sculptural Museum

Situated at the entrance to the archaeological area, this museum opened in 1996 and is housed in a large two-storey space with a central courtyard. It provides information about the building techniques used by the ancient Maya at Copan. The exhibits include the following stelae and other original monuments: the sculptures on the steps at Temple 10L-16, as well as the top temple; the reliefs inside the temple at the top of Structure 10L-26; the macaw heads from the Ball Court; stelae 2, P, A and 63; altars G1 and Q; the Motmot Marker; and various sculptural motifs from temples 10L-21, 21A and 22. It also contains a numerous reproductions of the stone architecture at the site, including building facades from the Central Acropolis, the Ball Court, Temple 16, the Cemetery Group and the Las Sepulturas Group.

The key exhibit, however, is the reproduction of the Rosalila Building, buried beneath Structure 10L-16. The first tier has two accesses (west and south) and four elongated rooms, three along the west, south and east sides and an interior fourth one in which the short side faces north; this central room and the east one contained two adoratoriums. There is no access to the upper tiers, although there was one room on the second level and three inter-connected rooms on the third level; this latter level has vertical vents on the east and west sides. Giant masks on the lower panels allude to the dynastic founder, each of them sporting a green bird from whose mouth emerges the red face of K’inich, the Sun God; the birds were probably K’uk’ quetzals K’uk’ with Mo’ macaw eyes. The greenish feathers at the sides blend into the red open mouths of cross-eyed serpents with yellow fangs. The same motifs are repeated on the projecting frieze: here we see the Sun God in the middle surrounded by feathers and with out-spread wings, above which two cartouches contain the representation of the Sun God in profile, while their frames resemble the Yax symbol. The second level is dominated by two giant masks of the earth monster on the east and west sides. Alongside the monster is the body of a white reptile with crossed bands, and at the ends we see their open-mouthed heads from which emerge faces; these are poorly preserved and it has not been possible to identify them. The body of this two-headed serpent continues up to the third level and across the top of a series of masks representing the gaunt figure of the God of Death.

Location;

Across the car park but right in front of the main gates to the site. But entrance tickets have to be bought at the main ticket office. It is not necessary to visit the archaeological site to visit the museum.

Entrance;

L175

Museo Miraflores – Guatemala City

Posted on 04/08/2023 by Michael

Museo Miraflores

The Miraflores Museum contains artefacts and finds from the Mayan city of Kaminaljuyu – upon which the modern city of Guatemalan City now stands. Much stands to be discovered at some time in the future.

The modern museum, therefore, sits upon the structures which it seeks to represent inside its walls.

The collection has also been augmented by donations from the Santa Clara Foundation.