Pre-Colombian Mesoamerican art exhibition

 
 
A new exhibition titled The World That Wasn’t There. Pre-Colombian Art from the Ligabue Collection  launched today at Florence’s Archaeological Museum in piazza Santissima Annunziata.
 
 
On display until March 6, 2016 are 230 Mesoamerican and South American works of art dating to before Christopher Columbus, almost all of them never before exhibited. Showcased is the story of the many diverse and great civilisations that flourished on the continent for thousands of years. 
 
 
The exhibition shows everything from the life, customs, cosmogonies, societies, myths, deities, games, writing and craft and artistic skills of the great civilisations of Mesoamerica, the territory of Panama and the Andes, all narrated through the exquisite artwork, sculptures and jewellery of the Olmecs to the Maya, to the cultures of Chavín, Tiahuanaco and Moche, up to the Incas. 
 
 
Many of the assembled masterpieces were once part of the Medici Cabinet of Wonders, brought over to Europe from the New World after Columbus’ discovery. 
 
 
The exhibition is a homage to Giancarlo Ligabue, a palaeontologist, scholar of archaeology and anthropology, and founder of the Ligabue Study Centre, by his son Inti. Giancarlo’s collection, carefully curated by a scientific committee led by Jacques Blazy, a specialist in Pre-Hispanic arts in Mesoamerica and South America, forms the heart of the exhibition.