McClung Museum is teaming up with the National Geographic Society to bring
a six month exhibit about the Maya people to the University of
Tennessee.
The exhibit, Maya: Portraits of a People, will open at the McClung
Museum on July 11 and will run until January 4. The exhibit will be curated
by George Stuart, the assistant senior editor of the National Geographic
Magazine, and the author of several books about the Mayan people.
Maya was one of the world’s greatest civilizations that was in its peak
around A.D. 250 to A.D. 950. Maya was a complicated civilization that had
large pyramids and palaces, a sophisticated art style, a complex writing
system and its own calender. The Maya empire was located on the Yucatan
Peninsula. The countries that grew out of the Maya empire include
Guatemala, Honduras, El Salvador and Belize.
The people who work at McClung Museum, including the museum’s director,
Jeff Chapman, are excited to be hosting the exhibit.
“What an opportunity to work with the National Geographic Society and
George Stuart in bringing the story of the Maya to the people of East
Tennessee,” Chapman said. “The color images from the Society’s archives
combined with the exquisite artifacts in the Kislak collection produce a
really exciting experience.”
The exhibit will feature many artifacts that are on loan from the Jay I.
Kislak Foundation. The ceramic vases, carved plaques, pendants, figurines,
containers and stone carvings will tell about all aspects of Maya life. The
exhibit will show different components of the Maya world including:
households, farming, hunting, merchants, traders, warriors, ballplayers,
scribes, rules, the courts, priests and gods. Two of the highlights of the
exhibit are an extensively carved wooden box that shows the ruler Ah
K’ax-Balam and a carved stone ceremonial mace-head.
McClung Museum is open every day of the week, Monday through Friday from 9
a.m.- 5 p.m., Saturday from 10 a.m.-3 p.m., and Sunday from 1 p.m.- 5 p.m.
Admission to the Maya exhibit and all other exhibits are free.
