Press Releases

Global Heritage Fund’s Mirador Project Profiled in Smithsonian Magazine Cover Story

April 25, 2011

 

Global Heritage Fund’s Mirador Project
Profiled in Smithsonian Magazine Cover Story

“El Mirador, the Lost City of the Maya” Tells Story of GHF Project Director Richard Hansen’s Efforts to Preserve
2,500-Year Old Mayan Metropolis

PALO ALTO, CA — April 25 2011 — Global Heritage Fund (GHF) is pleased to announce the Smithsonian publication of “El Mirador, the Lost City of the Maya,” a 14-page cover story in the May 2011 issue.

The Smithsonian cover story details the efforts of Dr. Richard Hansen, who has dedicated his life to save Mirador and solve the mysteries behind this 2,500-year-old “Cradle of Maya Civilization”, home to Mesoamerica’s oldest and largest Preclassic archaeological sites.

Written by award-winning journalist Chip Brown, the story—one of the longest in the magazine’s history—follows Hansen, Brown and two photographers into the heart of the 2,475-square-mile Mirador basin. Dr. Hansen is director of the Mirador Project, which has received over $5 million in funding from Global Heritage Fund (GHF) for conservation and community development in the past 6 years.  GHF’s Guatemalan partner- 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.

Hansen took them to the summit of La Danta, one of the world’s largest pyramids, showed them a spectacular stucco frieze depicting heroes from the Popul Vuh creation story, and told the story of the ancient city, which once served as home to an estimated 200,000 people.

Dr. Hansen, who founded the Foundation for Anthropological Research and Environmental Studies (FARES), has been studying and preserving Mirador since 1979. That year, as a graduate student, he was excavating a room on Structure 34 (“Jaguar Paw Temple”) when he discovered undisturbed pot fragments that revealed the site as centuries older than originally thought. In the article, he tells Brown: “I realized at that moment the whole evolutionary model for the economic, cultural and social history of the Maya was wrong. The idea that the Maya slowly became more sophisticated was wrong. And I thought, ‘Man, I’m the only person in the world at this moment who knows this.’” Since then, Hansen has excavated, mapped and explored 51 cities in the Mirador basin.

GHF has supported the Mirador project focused on conservation and community development since 2003, partnering with FARES to protect the site against rampant deforestation and looting, preserve its archaeological treasures, and ensure it becomes a sustainable economic source for local communities. Today, thanks to $5 million in funding from GHF, FARES and the Foundation for Cultural and Natural Maya Heritage (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 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.

“Smithsonian did an amazing reporting on the Mirador project showing clearly how far we have come since GHF and PACUNAM began working here,” said GHF Executive Director Jeff Morgan. “Raising awareness of this irreplaceable treasure — home to some of the world’s earliest, largest and most striking examples of Preclassic Maya civilization — is the next step in making Mirador a sustainable cultural and natural heritage site for Guatemala, and a great source for new economic opportunities for nearby villages like Carmelita and Uaxactún. We are very pleased that Smithsonian came to visit and see this irreplaceable treasure, and make it know to the world.”

On May 25th, 2011, Smithsonian magazine and FARES will host a special event in support of the Mirador project at the Morgan Library and Museum in New York City.

Click here to read the full magazine article at http://www.smithsonianmag.com

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.

About PACUNAM
PACUNAM’s work focuses on facilitating scientific and archaeological research, encouraging the development of productive activities, contributing to environmental conservation and supporting the nomination of cultural properties and / or natural assets of Guatemala as World Heritage. The Foundation seeks to support specific projects in each of these areas, in order to promote the sustainable development of the country. See: http://www.pacunam.org

About Smithsonian Media
Smithsonian Media comprises Smithsonian magazine, Air & Space, goSmithsonian, Smithsonian Media Digital Network and the Smithsonian Channel. Smithsonian Media’s flagship publication, Smithsonian magazine, is one of the nation’s largest magazines with a circulation of more than 2 million and nearly 7 million readers. Smithsonian Media is a division of Smithsonian Enterprises, the revenue-generating business unit of the Smithsonian Institution. The Smithsonian Institution is the world’s largest museum and research complex consisting of 19 museums and galleries, the National Zoological Park and nine research facilities. Approximately 30 million people from around the world visited the Smithsonian in 2009.