The Maya - Language of Beauty

12 April – 7 August 2016
Martin-Gropius-Bau | Berlin, Germany

With approximately 300 artworks including many Mexican national treasures, this exhibition explores the magnificent and varied forms of artistic expression developed by the Maya, with a focus on a fundamental aspect of pre-Hispanic art: the body.

Flourishing on the Yucatán Peninsula between 500 B.C. and 1500 A.D., the Maya achieved a degree of artistic sophistication—in reliefs, busts, and clay and stone figurines—that placed them far ahead of all other contemporary cultures on their continent.

Mayan buildings and works of art provide a splendid window into the everyday existence of this highly advanced civilization, shedding light on its literature, astronomy, music and dances. These reveal a culture dominated by an idealized view of humanity and its relationship with the gods, notions echoed in the Mayan ideal of beauty and conception of mankind’s place in the cosmos.

The Maya – Language of Beauty is part of a year of culture organized jointly by the German and Mexican governments.