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GHF, PACUNAM and Prince Albert Foundation Host Opening of Maya Exhibition at Quai Branly Museum in Paris

June 20, 2011

 

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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

GHF, PACUNAM and Prince Albert Foundation Host Opening of
Maya Exhibition at Quai Branly Museum in Paris

“Maya: From Dawn to Dusk” Highlights Discoveries Made at
Mirador and Brings Guatemalan Maya to the World

PALO ALTO, CA — Global Heritage Fund (GHF), an international conservancy devoted to saving endangered cultural heritage sites in developing countries, will co-host a private opening on June 21st for “Maya: From Dawn to Dusk,” a new exhibition at Quai Branly Museum in Paris that prominently features GHF project site El Mirador.

The exhibition, which runs June 21 to October 2, features more than 160 items, including painted ceramics, stelae, finely carved stones, funerary elements, architectural remains and ornaments, most of which have never left their country of origin. In an attempt to promote the protection of Guatemala’s national heritage, the exhibition offers a unique opportunity to discover the Guatemalan Maya, one of the major civilizations that shaped the history of pre-Columbian America, and highlights the recent significant archaeological discoveries at sites such as El Mirador, where GHF has been working with a focus on conservation and community development since 2003.

El Mirador was recently the subject of a 14-page Smithsonian Magazine cover story that details the efforts of Dr. Richard Hansen, who has dedicated his life to saving Mirador and solving the mysteries behind this 2,500-year-old “Cradle of Maya Civilization”, home to Mesoamerica’s oldest and largest Preclassic archaeological sites. Dr. Hansen is director of the GHF Mirador Project, which has received over $5 million in funding from Global Heritage Fund (GHF) for conservation and community development in the past six years. Dr. Hansen, founder of the Foundation for Anthropological Research and Environmental Studies (FARES), is also Scientific Advisor for the Quai Branly Maya exhibition.

GHF has partnered with FARES and the Foundation for Cultural and Natural Maya Patrimony (PACUNAM) to protect Mirador against rampant deforestation and looting, preserve its archaeological treasures, and ensure it becomes a sustainable economic source for local communities. Today, thanks to contributions from GHF, FARES and PACUNAM, a new 880,000-acre Mirador Archaeological and Wildlife Preserve has been proposed—the largest park in Central America—and a new Archaeological Management Plan for the Mirador Natural and Cultural System has been completed with the cooperation of all major stakeholders and government ministries.

GHF funding has also helped to employ hundreds of local conservation workers, park guides and guards (some of whom are former looters), provide literacy classes to workers, provide local schools with computers and computer training, and install water-purification filters in villages. A key goal of the Mirador project is to aid the Guatemalan government in securing permanent protection and UNESCO World Heritage Site designation for the park, which would place it on an international stage for large-scale conservation and promote significant tourism growth.

GHF’s partners for the June 21st event are PACUNAM and Prince Albert Foundation, both of which are also key partners in the GHF Mirador project. PACUNAM has raised over $2 million in funding from 13 companies and families in Guatemala—one of the most successful conservation projects in the country’s history—while Prince Albert recently visited Mirador and signed an agreement to support PACUNAM and conservation of the Maya Biosphere Reserve, which is still very threatened by deforestation.

The Quai Branly Maya exhibition is compiled from the National Collections of Guatemala and has been created in close collaboration with the Guatemalan Ministry of Culture and Sports and the Museo Nacional de Arqueología y Ethnología in Guatemala. Organized chronologically, it is divided into four sections, the first three corresponding to the primary periods in Maya history: Preclassic, Classic, and Postclassic. The fourth section draws a portrait of contemporary Maya culture via photographs and a multimedia presentation.

“It is our pleasure to host this special event in support of the incredible Maya exhibition at Quai Branly,” said Jeff Morgan, Founder and Executive Director of GHF. “Soon, thousands of people will discover for themselves what we have been conserving and studying for the past six years, and what Dr. Hansen has been working tirelessly to save for more than three decades—the cradle of Maya civilization, one of the most important founding civilizations of the world. Many artifacts in this exhibition have come out of these excavations, as has much of what we know about the Guatemalan Maya. It is imperative that we continue to preserve these endangered sites. This momentous exhibition brings great exposure to Maya and Guatemalan heritage, and marks major progress in our mission to preserve it for future generations.”

About Global Heritage Fund
Global Heritage Fund (GHF) is an international conservancy whose mission is to protect, preserve and sustain the most significant and endangered cultural heritage sites in the developing world. GHF utilizes our 360-degree Preservation by Design® methodology of community-based planning, science, development and partnerships to enable long-term preservation and sustainability of global heritage sites. Since 2002, GHF has invested over $20 million and secured $18 million in co-funding for 16 global heritage sites to ensure their sustainable preservation and responsible development. For more information, visit http://www.globalheritagefund.org.