The Mejia Lequerica Space of the Madrid City Hall (Mejia Lequerica, 21, Metro Bilbao or Tribunal), will exhibit through May 31 a nonpermanent photographic exhibit entitled Mayans, Traditions of the Sun by the Sun-Earth Connection Educational Forum attached to NASA, the University of California at Berkeley and Mexico’s National Institute of Anthropology and History. The objective of this activity is to bring astronomy closer to the general public through a civilization that blossomed across Mexico, Guatemala, Honduras, El Salvador and Belize.
The exhibition, brought to Madrid in collaboration with the Madrid City Hall, the Madrid Colonia Mexicana Association and the Mestizos restaurant, was organized by the Sophia Foundation and given away to it by NASA, the University of California and Mexico’s National Institute of Anthropology and History. It was recreated in Spain under the sponsorship of the Digital Printing Center (CID) to be part of the teaching tools the foundation relies on since 2008 for the promotion of artistic education and creation in the country based on one of the most amazing civilizations the history of mankind has ever known.
The exhibit, featuring over fifty photographs and a dozen explanatory panels created by Ph. D Isabel Hawkins, an astronomer and former director of the Science Education Center at the Space Science Lab of the University of California at Berkeley and the Sun-Earth Connection Educational Forum sponsored by NASA, as well as by Dr. Jose Huchim, archeologist, astronomer and director of the Uxmal Archeological Site in Mexico, and Dr. James Thieman, of NASA’s Goddard Space Center, as an educational project to bring astronomy closer to the educational centers of the U.S. and among Mayan-origin communities across Mexico.
In Mayans, Traditions of the Sun, visitors could watch different moments in which the sun interacts with the amazing Mayan monuments, like the “descent of the Quetzalcoatl God” in the pyramid known as “The Castle” at the Chichen Itza archeological site in Yucatan, a phenomenon that can be watched during the spring and fall equinoxes.
“It’s an honor for us to expose a didactic exhibit that underscores man’s endless desire for studying and interacting with his environment just like the Mayans did,” said Dr. Francis J. Vilar, president of the Sophia Foundation. “The study and spread of this civilization is one of our most active programs,” he added.
“Today there are over half a dozen million Mayans living in Mexico, Guatemala, Honduras and El Salvador, as well as in the U.S. and other nations, who cling to their traditions, their tongue and its more than thirty variants,” Dr. Jose Huchim explained. That’s why the explanatory texts in this exposition are written in three languages: Mayan, Spanish and English. The exhibit is also backed up by a website, www.fundacionsophia.com that also unravels some basic concepts on the Mayan calendar in which any current date can be added just to corroborate its equivalence.
Mayans, Traditions of the Sunwill remain open Monday through Sunday from 9:00 am to 8:00 pm. Admission is free. Some images exposed there can be seen on http://www.traditionsofthesun.org/.
Mejia Lequerica Space of the Madrid City Hall
C/ Mejia Lequerica, 21 – Madrid (Metro Tribunal – Bilbao)
Source: Press release sent by Hermes Communications
For more information, visit http://www.fundacionsophia.com/
