SAN FRANCISCO, CALIFORNIA.- In response to the overwhelming enthusiasm from school groups, scholars, and individual museum visitors remarking on the historical significance of the Legion's current exhibition, Courtly Art of the Ancient Maya, the Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco's Director Harry S. Parker III has announced that the Legion of Honor will offer lower ticket prices to all visitors--including free entrance for youths--in hopes of enabling more people to experience this once-in-a-lifetime exhibition. Commenting on this decision, Parker muses, "It's during our childhoods that the majority of us can recall our most memorable museum visits, and I believe the Courtly Art of the Ancient Maya is one such exhibit that has the ability to evoke this type of emotion. We especially want to welcome our community's youths to this exhibition."

Traditionally, museums implement a surcharge for traveling exhibitions in order to cover the associated cost of hosting these special shows. In the case of the Maya exhibition, the museum decided that its primary goal was to insure that as many people as possible could see this remarkable collection of ancient Maya objects, which constitutes the most comprehensive collection of Maya work ever assembled in the United States. With two months left of the exhibition, the museum concluded that a decrease in the cost of all ticket prices for adults and seniors, and free entrance for youths 17 and under, would be the most effective way to extend an invitation to the community to visit this extraordinary exhibition.