The Splendid Maya Murals of Bonampak, Mexico, with Prof. Mary Miller

At the Yale Presidential Inauguration Symposia on October 11th 2013, Mary Miller, Dean of Yale College and Sterling Professor of History of Art at Yale University, presented a lecture entitled, "The Splendid Maya Murals of Bonampak, Mexico".

Painted in the last decade of the eighth century in the tropical rainforest of Chiapas, Mexico, and brought to modern attention in 1946, the wall paintings of Bonampak reveal the ancient Maya at the end of their splendor. Using the most complex and luxurious palette of pigments known from prehispanic Mexico, a small group of trained artists rendered the rituals of court rituals, from human sacrifice to the receipt of foreign dignitaries. Dean Miller will discuss both newly commissioned and newly rediscovered photographs as well as recently completed reconstructions as she brings this ancient spectacle to life.