Word: itza
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...break between two of his least favorite activities - sightseeing and chaotic international conclaves. Bush, changing the black Cadillac limousine that had picked him up at the Cancun airport for a hearty black Suburban with the Presidential seal on the side, had spent his Thursday morning touring the Chichen-Itza Mayan archeological ruins, a stop that had been added to his itinerary after his failure to drop by the Taj Mahal had stirred so much comment during his recent trip to India. He sportingly wore an untucked, white, tropical-weight shirt and climbed a pyramid at the behest of his host...
...sites were also built on a fairly modest scale: the Great Pyramid at La Venta, a site that arose around 800 B.C., is just 100 ft. high, about half the size of the tallest Mayan pyramid at Chichen Itza. Still, each Olmec site was laid out according to a preconceived plan, a fact that reflects both the people's religious beliefs and a fairly sophisticated knowledge of engineering. All the mounds at La Venta, for example, are oriented precisely 8û west of north...
...frontal or a gilded retablo, no matter how impressive in itself, cannot possibly duplicate the devotional frenzy of incrustation that gives Mexican Baroque its special character, any more than a few Chacmool figures and feathered serpents can convey the impact of the step pyramids, ramps and avenues of Chichen Itza or El Tajin...
...sees premonitions of modernity, since 20th century sculptors drew on Mexican sources for inspiration -- Henry Moore's reclining women, for instance, derive partially from the powerful crankshaft rhythms of Yucatan Chacmool figures. But the best pieces here, such as the stone figure of a standard-bearer from Chichen Itza with its fierce gaze and crippled foot, are beyond such comparisons. From the delicately modeled stucco glyphs of Palenque, imbued with an almost rococo elegance, to the frightful severity of Aztec pieces such as the cuauhxicalli, or blood receptacle, in the form of a stone eagle, ancient Mexican sculpture...
...works in the St. Paul exhibit are also from Chichen Itza. They were selected from a collection of 30,000 sacrificial objects that the Mayas threw into a 200-ft.-wide limestone sinkhole that was their sacred cenote, or well. The pieces -- jade pendants, gold jewelry, wooden idols and painted jars -- offer a peerless view of Central American aesthetic traditions over an 800- year period. Says the St. Paul museum's curator of archaeology, Orrin C. Shane III: "The objects from the cenote are the single most important archaeological treasure ever recovered in the Americas." Incredibly, nearly all the pieces...