Jalapa - Museum of Anthropology Museo de Antropologia

In the north-west of the town of Jalapa, on the Mexico City road, lies the impressive Museum of Anthropology (Museo de Antropologia de la Universidad Jalapa), the most important and attractively laid-out museum of its kind in the country matched only by the Museum of Anthropology in Mexico City. Three atria and six other rooms are linked by a large orientation hall equipped with information boards, models and items for comparison.

The 3000 exhibits on display are mainly from the pre-Columbian cultures of the Gulf region, including the Olmecs, Huastecs, Remoyadas and Totonacs.

In the grounds stand several basalt Olmec colossal heads, brought from San Lorenzo where they were found (the large Olmec sculptures discovered at La Venta can be seen in the open-air museum at Villahermosa, see entry). Of those here at Jalapa, Head No. 8 particularly stands out; in contrast to the others its lips are slightly parted and it has avoided ritual mutilation. Other impressive Olmec stone sculptures include not only altars and stelae but also life-sized terracotta figures dating from ad 600-900 which were found as recently as 1986 in El Zapotal, west of Alvarado. In all, 22 of these previously unrecorded and richly ornamented figures were found; they were probably dedicated to the goddess Cihuatéotl, the patroness of women who died in childbirth.

The museum also houses the largest collection of cult objects connected with ball games, such as yokes, axes and palms as well as the "laughing faces", terracotta sculptures from the Remoyadas culture from the central Gulf region. Recent additions include parts of a multi-coloured mural from Las Higueras (ad 600-900), once probably a satellite town of the grat El Tajin. There are also collections of ethnological material on the Indian tribes of the region.

For some time now the curator of the museum has been Brigido Lara, known around the world as a maker of perfect reproductions of old Indian figures. He had sold these to dealers as copies, but they then sold them on to the large museums as the genuine article.