OLMEC MUSEO DE ANTHROPOLOGIA IN XALAPA

Today we went back in time from El Tajin to the Olmec Culture which was from 1200 to 600 bc or so. This was the mother culture of Mexican civilizations and it existed long before the flowering of Greece or Rome.

This museum is second only to the one in Mexico City so they say but we enjoyed it even more than
that.  The layout leads you from one thing to another in a very logical way.  Of course, some or maybe most of the sculptures are so gigantic that they are out in the open and not behind glass. 

You have probably seem photos of the humoungous heads weighing many tons.  Well, up close they are most impressive.  We learned a lot about their way of life and some of their customs.  Especially interesting was the practice of skinning their sacrifices and wearing the skin.  (Ugh)  To me it seemed as if most of the sculpture and ceramic depictions were of women.  Maybe some parts were left off of some of the statues.  If a sculpture has closed eyes it means that the person is dead.  There were several sculptures of women who died in child birth.  Most of them looked to be very young. 

The paintings on the walls of the houses were interesting because one exhibit showed how they would paint a wall and then replaster and paint another picture over it and so forth.  (A practice I imagined I thought of myself.)  Some of the colors are still visible which is so amazing.  There were painting schools as was shown in a sculpture of a teacher and among the artifacts were brushes, paint pots etc. 

These pieces came from all over Veracruz and elsewhere but the state of Veracruz is the source of so many pieces.  There is so much of this sort of history here.

After a while they began to add terracotta pieces which are very detailed and intricate.  There are bowls, musical instruments, smiling faces (I'm sure you have seen.) toys for children.  By the way the toys had wheels but wheels were not used for every day life yet.  There was a beautiful funerary urn.  I have photos and hope to be able to add them here.

We stay three hours and took a taxi back to the hotel. 
Tomorrow we scout out on our own.