MAX
The Museum of Anthropology
of Xalapa
Xalapa (or Jalapa) is in the State of Veracruz, a pleasant day's drive from Oaxaca. The region is fascinating--much greener than Oaxaca, rich in coffee farms, banana plantations, dense forests and waterfalls. It's also the site of Mexico's oldest and most intriguing ancient culture considered to be the matriz--the womb--of ancient Mexico--the Olmecs.
We stayed in Coatepec, a charming town where practically every storefront is roasting and selling aromatic and delicious coffee. We also loved Xico, a tiny, colorful, coffee-growing town in the mountains. Last year we spent some time in Veracruz, a bustling port with lots of history (and a high-energy Carnaval in the spring).
Still, it's worth the bus ride or drive from Oaxaca just to visit the great Museo de Antropologia de Xalapa. It's housed in a modern, extremely well designed building that effortlessly guides the visitor through the three thousand years of cultural and artistic development that took place in this area from 1600 BC to 1521 AD.
When you enter the musuem, you're confronted by a series of the colossal stone heads for which the Olmecs are famous. I've seen lots of pictures of these massive sculptures, and others in Mexico City's great museum, but was not prepared for the remarkable individuality that each huge head expressed, 3,500 years after they were carved.
The museum houses seven of these great figures, each one reflecting a strikingly different character. They date from 1600 to 300 BC.
As impressive as the Olmec sculptures were, they were matched by the carvings and ceramics of the later cultures of central Veracruz. The artists who created these figures captured an enormous range of human life, from infancy to old age, and from contagious mirth to fierce concentration. Here are just a few of these beautiful artifacts:
One of many
smiling and laughing figures (Classic Period, 300-900 AD)
One
of several baby-faced figures (Classic Period)
An old, old
man (Classic Period)
One of the most powerful carvings, thought to represent
a shaman and his animal double, or nagual
(Classic Period, 300 to 900 AD)
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