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Five years ago Lucas Asicona Ramírez (far right, pictured with family) began scraping his walls while renovating his home in the Guatemalan village of Chajul. As the plaster fell away, a multi-wall Maya mural saw light for the first time in centuries.![Maya_3]()
Just to the left of the Ramírez family's wood stove, a mural of ancient incense-burning vessels warms the wall, Źrałka said. As a whole, the murals "probably represent the so-called conquest dance," Boston University's Saturno said. Performed even today by some Maya, the ritual reenacts the Spanish invasion and Maya conversion to Christianity.![Maya_2]()
Accompanied by a flutist (far left), a Spanish-garbed drummer plays for a figure in a Maya headdress in the Ramírez's main living area, used as a kitchen and living-dining area. Painted on the house's oldest plaster layer, the images were created after the 16th-century Spanish conquest of Guatemala, said Źrałka, of Poland's Jagiellonian University. The home is at least 300 years old, he added, and the style recalls 17th- to 18th-century illustrated texts from the region.![Maya_4]()
"From the waist up" these figures are "typical Maya," with long capes, Źrałka said. "But they also have Spanish clothes"—pants and European-style shoes, for example. The figure on the left may be holding a human heart, aorta protruding, Źrałka said.Mayan Mural Found in Family Kitchen
Get the full story from National Geographic here. The Ramirez family made an incredible discovery behind old plaster in their 300 year old home.
Move Forward
- Mayan Mural Found in Family Kitchen
