VERONA.- The halls of the Palazzo della Gran Guardia are opening to the mystery and allure of one of the most interesting pre-Columbian civilizations of the Americas: over 250 works from Mexico's leading museums make up the exhibition Maya. Il linguaggio della bellezza, from 8 October 2016 until 5 March 2017.

Maya. Il linguaggio della bellezza is an exhibition of the Government of Mexico, the Mexican Ministry of Culture and the INAH (National Institute of Anthropology and History), the most important institution of Mexico's Ministry of Culture, and is curated by Karina Romero Blanco.

Eighteen years have passed since the 1998 Maya exhibition in Venice, and Italy once again is able to experience the story of a civilization that never ceases to fascinate us with its understanding of mathematics, its extremely precise calendar systems and its artistic achievements.

The exhibition - the result of special focus on the specifically artistic themes of the civilization - features sculptures, monumental stone slabs, architectural elements, terracotta figures, jade masks, musical instruments and incense burners to give visitors the chance to explore the artistic aspects one of the most fascinating civilizations in history, through the universally recognized theme of beauty.

The exhibition in Verona marks the first time that the culture of this ancient people is being addressed using the words and texts of the Maya themselves; never before has it been possible to make use of the greatest anthropological breakthrough of the last century: the deciphering of the Maya writing system.

At the same time, the exhibition offers a new, innovative and surprisingly current look at Mayan art, beginning by identifying the masters, the schools and the styles. We are finally able to consider the artworks through an artistic and historical interpretation, not merely an archaeological one.

The three great periods during which the Maya civilization flourished - the Preclassic, Classic and Postclassic - from 2000 BCE to 1542 CE, are explained through extraordinary masterpieces of Maya art, such as the Flag Bearer, a priceless eleventh-century sculpture created by a master at Chichen Itza (archaeological complex in the north of the Yucatan Peninsula, included among the New Seven Wonders of the World in 2007) which is undoubtedly the best example of a type of sculpture typical of many cities of the Postclassic period; Portrait Head of Pakal the Great who lived from 603 to 683 CE and was the most important king of Palenque (today one of the most important Mayan archaeological sites in the Mexican state of Chiapas); the Jade mosaic Mask depicting a deified king, a typical example of a death mask, essential for the deceased to reach the underworld; and finally the Young Man from Cumpich, an imposing sculpture dating from the late Classic period, found at the archaeological site of Cumpich.

The Mayan civilization is also illustrated through the reconstruction of ancient architecture and everyday objects that have survived millennia, including necklaces, earrings, musical instruments, vases and incense burners, all from Mexico's most important museums, such as the Museo Nacional de Antropología (Mexico City) which, with two million annual visitors, ranks first in the world among museums of anthropology; the Museo Regional de Antropología Palacio Cantón (Mérida, Yucatán); the Museo Arqueológico del Camino Real de Hecelchakán (Hecelchakán, Campeche); and the many archaeological sites of the most important Mayan cities including Calakmul, Chichen Itza, Palenque and Uxmal.

The exhibition in Verona reveals the results of the latest scientific research on the Maya and enables readers to read their texts directly, and to explore exciting topics such as the prophecies, the end of the thirteenth baktun (21 December 2012) and the secrets of the Long Count, a cycle of 5125.3661 years that began its "rotation" on the day of creation, which for the Maya was 6 September 3114 BCE.

THE EXHIBITION
Sculptures in the shapes of humans and animals, everyday objects, masks, funerary urns and other valuable artefacts tell the story of the Mayan world in the exhibition's four themed sections: The Body as Canvas, The Clothed Body, The Animal Counterpart and The Bodies of the Divinities.

Friezes and architraves that recreate ancient environments, fragments of texts, maps and symbols of power retrace two thousand years of history along a multifaceted exhibition that will tell the story of the Mayan culture: the decoration of bodies (beauty was very important to the Mayans; they adorned their bodies in temporary and permanent alterations including body paint, elaborate hairstyles, tattoos and dental decorations); clothing and ornaments used to indicate social status; the relationship with the animals that symbolized the forces of nature, the cosmos and the events of the cosmogonic myths; the various deities and sacred beings worshipped, the priests that represented them and the objects used in rituals. For the first time, Mayan art is presented through specific and rigorous historical and artistic analyses that explore the issues of attribution to be able to identify the great painters and sculptors.

SECTIONS
First section: The Body as Canvas
An element common to every society, both past and present, is the practice of body modification. It was especially present in the world of the Maya, where beauty played a prominent role. The people styled their hair and painted their faces and bodies daily, reserving specific and unique decorations for holidays, altering their physical appearances for aesthetic reasons.

Some of these practices, such as scars and tattoos, changed their wearers' appearance for life and were actually considered visible expressions of cultural identity and social belonging. Among these permanent changes, those that acquired special importance included facial scarification, dental decoration, artificial modification of the shape of the head, intentional eye crossing and piercings for ornaments applied to the ears, nose and lips.

Second section: The Clothed Body
Clothing is a veritable language with its own vocabulary and grammar, and - although it may seem ephemeral and superficial - it actually touches on some very basic, essential elements. In fact, it is through clothing that we express many aspects of our personalities, including our culture, social status, profession, origin and even moods.

Similarly, for the Maya, dress was indicative of an individual's social status. Most of the population engaged in agricultural work wore simple clothing: for women, a traditional blouse called a "huipil" and a skirt or tunic; for men, a loincloth tied around the waist and sometimes a long cloak around the shoulders.

The noble class wore elaborate costumes with accessories such as belts, necklaces, headgear and breastplates studded with precious stones and feathers. Fabrics were richly coloured, dyed with indigo, cochineal or purple and were often worked with very complex techniques - brocade, for example - and often included feathers.

Third section: The Animal Counterpart
Animals have always had a special place in the religious symbolism of many different cultures, because their life force and physical strength are superior to those of humans; they have claws and sharp vision, can fly and can live under water. They are symbols and incarnations of divine energies that come into contact with men.

The Maya considered many beings from the animal world to be sacred. Animals symbolized the forces of nature and the cosmos; they were manifestations of divine energy, demiurges between gods and humans, protectors of tribes and the alter egos of human beings.

In the Mayan view of the world, all living beings, animals and plants, had a counterpart that is supernatural and therefore sacred. In particular, it was believed that rulers could increase their power by using certain supernatural forces that allowed their "wayo'ob" - their souls - to leave their bodies at night and move about freely, transformed into fantastic creatures with the appearance of animals.

Fourth section: the Bodies of the Divinities
The Maya worshiped many deities and sacred beings of various kinds, which might embody the greatest powers, or be the guardians of small plants, streams or mountains. They are represented with human and animal characteristics; natural or imaginary elements. These gods and sacred beings were believed to be the sources of terrifying natural phenomena the Maya feared and the material and spiritual expression of everything that exists.

The Maya pantheon is enormously complicated because it includes divinities with opposing characteristics: simultaneously male and female, young and old, animal and human, creative and destructive, like nature itself which inspired them. They may also be composite deities, the result of the superimposition of different divinities, which we are able to recognize thanks to the beautiful sculptural representations that the ancient Maya left us.