Six Heads in One Day!!

      

Wow!  An incredible day at an incredible museum – one of the finest museums we have ever seen!  Everything – and I mean everything – was amazing!  As R says, the architecture, the horticulture and the artifacts – were truly incredible! 

 

We went downstairs to a very good breakfast about 8 am.  They provided some wonderful scrambled eggs with jamon (ham) as well as potatoes with chiles and very freshly cut fruit.  We took a taxi to the museum a few minutes after 9, and honestly, it seems like we had the place to ourselves, at least until about 1 pm! 

 

 

View of the city -- and a nearby volcano! -- from our window!

 

The museum is run by the Universidad de Veracruz and possesses an incredible collection of Olmec and Epi-Olmec artifacts … and boy, did these folks like to make things on a VERY large scale!  And I’m not talking just about the Colossal Olmec heads – lots and lots of other things as well!

 

To start with, we weren’t sure what to expect when we entered – but there, right in the front vestibule was a HUGE head!  It was Colossal Head 8 from San Lorenzo, and it was beautiful!  We were very impressed, not only with the head but with the museum itself.  The museum offered audioguides in English, which proved to be very helpful, as there was very little information provided in any other language than Spanish.  It took us a bit to grasp how to use the guides, but once we learned, they were very easy to manage, and once we understood the gal delivering the narrative, (which also appeared on the screen in English) we could muddle our way through!

 

The museum itself was basically one floor, that followed the slope of the hillside downward.  (There was a second floor that included a small café and the museum offices, as well as a theatre.)  The museum itself was built with lots of interior courtyards looking out on a stunning garden setting, with lots of light wells built in along the way.  You could look down the building slope and it was really an impressive sight, with each level about three steps down from the last.

 

All in all, we found six wonderful Olmec heads, each different from the last, and varying in size from huge to much smaller.  It turns out that as a result of warfare in the area, it was sometimes difficult for Olmec leaders to acquire new stone – or new stone of the substantial size that was required – so they would use something else – like an old throne, for instance – and repurpose it into a new head!  Such a great use of resources! 

 

 

 

Our first Colossal Head in Xalapa!

 

One of the largest and best preserved!

Huge garden at the back/side of the museum

Loved the carving on this jade!

Other points: The Olmecs did not have metal tools – no iron, no bronze – so the heads were sculpted using stone tools.  Also, although they made toys with wheels, the did not have wheeled carts or wagons to move loads, so it appears that moving the stone for the heads was done by dragging, maybe over logs used as rollers.

 

The rooms were set out in order from south Veracruz state heading north along the gulf coast, and also went from Olmec to Epi-Olmec, ending at El Tajin, in the north, where we plan on going tomorrow. 

 

 

Second Colossal Head, but he wasn't identified!

Head Number 3 - called "El Rey"

Which means "The King!"

 

There were so many wonderful artifacts and displays – from masks to massive life-size figures.  The Olmecs were also very talented sculpturers in working with clay, and some of the details on the gods and goddesses were truly amazing!  Hopefully some of the photos will provide good details.  We now know we have heads 1, 8, 3, 9 and 7 as well as one other “unnumbered” but identified head today, plus the two we saw in Mexico City.  So … 8 heads down, 9 to go! 

 

 

Side view of the El Rey

Beautiful something growing in the atrium!

Alongside the Bird of Paradise!

From the top gallery, looking down into the other galleries

These guys liked to build BIG!

Our 4th Head

And our 5th!

 

 

Lots of "Babies" with interestingly shaped skulls

Our 6th Head -- repurposed from an ancient throne!

Beautiful sculpture in green stone

Incredible things made out of clay!

 

And lots of lovely flowers!

Unfortunately, not Colossal!

Some lovely frescos from a temple

And R always loves the pottery!

 

Way too many snakes...

Tlalac, the rain god!

Beautiful azaleas in front of the museum!

By 1 pm we were pretty well exhausted and had covered the entire museum.  Again, we had the place to ourselves pretty much the entire time, which was wonderful!  We lunched at the small café upstairs – grilled ham and cheese sandwiches with tomato and avocado – really excellent – and then caught a taxi back into town.

 

 

Lovely church across from our hotel

Interesting building -- selling dresses for "Princesses!"

 

A "Princess" dress!

Something unfortunate has happened to our email, though, and I’m thinking it’s the hotel’s WiFi, but we won’t know until tomorrow at our next hotel.  Hopefully I’ll be able to get this out, but we’ll just have to see! 

 

So, more later!

m

xxx

 

Actually, with the nice lunch we had at the museum, neither of us were really hungry for dinner, so we made do with some snacks from downstairs and now I’m posting (hopefully!)  Tomorrow we’re on to Poza Rica, near the El Tajin ruin.  It’s over a 3 hour drive, so we’ll need to get started early!  So, until then!

 

Much love,

m

xxx