via Travel Weekly
Mexico’s Instituto Nacional de Antropología e Historia (LACMA) and the Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco have partnered to present Olmec: Colossal Masterworks of Ancient Mexico, which is an exhibition of giant stone heads carved from massive boulders by the Olmec people of Mexico’s Gulf Coast region.
The Olmecs, who existed sometime around 1400 BC and where centered around Veracruz, are considered Mexico’s oldest civilization. Olmec artists and architects are famous for their ability to carve statues from the extremely hard basalt stones of the region, out of which they would sculpt enormous profiles of the heads of their rulers. These heads, currently featured at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art, weigh between 7 and 10 tons each!
Also featured in the exhibit are “small-scale jadeite objects that embody the symbolism of sacred and secular authority among the Olmec.” The exhibit will run in Los Angeles until Jan. 9th and is the first time these massive stone heads have been displayed in the US. From LA, the exhibition will travel north to San Francisco where it will run from Feb. 19th to May 8th.
