Breaking Mesoamerican Codes – The Lienzo Seler II from the Coixtahua Valley of Mexico

ETHNOLOGISCHES MUSEUM (HUMBOLDT-FORUM)

 

View of the Humboldt-Forum on the Schloßplatz in Berlin

View of the Humboldt-Forum on the Schloßplatz in Berlin (Berliner Schloss – Humboldt-Forum: Ansicht von der Nord-West-Seite © Stiftung Berliner Schloss – Humboldtforum / Architekt: Franco Stella mit FS HUF PG)

The Humboldt-Forum on the Schloßplatz in the heart of Berlin is now hard miss. The topping-out ceremony was celebrated on June 12, 2015. The conceptual planning of the Ethnologisches Museum and the Museum für Asiatische Kunst is also at an advanced stage. On two floors, the exhibition modules will deal with different topics based on the museums’ collections, such as “Graphic Communication Systems in Mesoamerica” on the 2nd floor. The Topoi research project (C-5-8-1) Cognitive perception and the presentation of space and place in Mesoamerica – The Lienzo Seler/Coixtlahuaca II in the Ethnology Museum of Berlin in the Ethnologisches Museum Berlin“) explores the grandest of the exhibits, measuring some 16 square meters. Once the Humboldt-Forum has opened its doors in 2019, visitors will be invited to actively take part and explore the different perceptions of space in Mesoamerica before and after the arrival of the Spanish. According to the latest studies, however, the Lienzo was made as a reminder of the establishment of settlements and the origin of local ruling dynasties in the Coixtlahuaca Valley of Oaxaca, Mexico.

Rendering of the exhibition module “Graphic Communication Systems in Mesoamerica”

Detail of model with Lienzo Seler II (Der Ausstellungsbereich Mesoamerika mit Lienzo Seler im Modell © Stiftung Preußischer Kulturbesitz, Ralph Appelbaum Associates/malsyteufel)

The establishment of the settlement near “Snake Mountain“ with New Fire ceremony.

The establishment of the settlement near “Snake Mountain“ with New Fire ceremony (Die Ortsgründung bei “Schlangenberg“ mit Neufeuerzeremonie © Staatliche Museen zu Berlin/Ethnologisches Museum / Foto: Dietrich Graf)

Rendering of the exhibition module “Graphic Communication Systems in Mesoamerica”

Rendering of the exhibition module “Graphic Communication Systems in Mesoamerica” (Entwurf des Ausstellungsbereichs Mesoamerika mit Lienzo Seler II © Stiftung Preußischer Kulturbesitz, Ralph Appelbaum Associates/malsyteufel, 2013)