The La Venta Museum in Tabasco will be rebuilt and the monumental pieces it preserves will be better protected so that they are not exposed to the elements, said the director of the National Institute of Anthropology and History (INAH), Diego Prieto.
At the morning press conference, he said that this project, for which a definitive proposal and an executive project must still be generated and its budget estimated, was also recommended by UNESCO.
Tentatively, said Prieto, it is thought that the new version of the La Venta Museum will be the National Museum of Olmec Culture, considered the origin of the other cultures that developed in Mesoamerica
UNESCO has recommended that these monumental elements, these stone sculptures, can be protected and no longer be exposed to the elements. So the idea is to build a museum, austere, but a museum that lives up to the importance of what has been called the ‘mother culture’, the primeval culture of Mesoamerica, and that the original pieces can be there, leaving replicas throughout this very beautiful route that combines the expressions of the Olmec culture with the wonder of the flora and fauna of this region of Tabasco, of Villahermosa, and that one could think of a national museum of the Olmec culture,” said Prieto.
The La Venta Site Museum is located 120 kilometers from Villahermosa and the pieces that were recovered in the region and that are on display, mainly human heads and steles sculpted on monoliths, are out in the open.
In Villahermosa, capital of Tabasco, there is the La Venta Museum Park, where pieces that were found in the archaeological site of La Venta were moved, and, according to Prieto, it is where the national museum of the Olmec culture is planned to be built.
The pieces are outdoors and are another attraction of the urban park that has a boardwalk, an aviary, restaurants, food stalls and an open-air forum.
We will present the proposal to President Claudia Sheinbaum so that we can have a space of this level in Villahermosa, to protect the original pieces from La Venta, Tabasco; one of the two great primitive Olmec cities, and that we can have this destination so that the inhabitants of Tabasco, the Mexicans and all the public that comes to this entity can enjoy the wonder that was the Olmec civilization,” said the head of the INAH.
Prieto also announced that 2025 will be the Year of the Indigenous Woman and for this reason four women were chosen who will appear on the emblem for the year 2025.
They will be women representing the Mexica, Mayan, Mixtec, and Toltec cultures.
Source: excelsior
