Anthropology Museum

Murals of Bonampak

Bonampak pre-Hispanic murals are the most significant and best-preserved pictorial works belonging to the Mayan culture. These paintings are found on the walls of the Temple of the Murals or Structure I of Bonampak (walls dyed in Maya).

In this room, room III, you can see the victory ceremony with leaders, musicians, dancers, and prisoners of war. On one side of the scene, we have the ruler along with his family performing a self-sacrifice, thanking the gods for the victory achieved.

In room II to the left of this entry, the battle of August 2, 792, the victory of Bonampak and the presentation of the prisoners are represented. Chan Muwan II with jaguar skins controls the main captive, observes the others, stripped of clothes, with the blood that falls from his nails after the torture.

In Room I a crucial scene in the life of the nobility of that time is shown: Under the protection of their deities, located in the superior part of the vault, the halach uinic (Chaan Muwan II) comes to the presentation of his heir. On the surrounding walls, there is a group of gentlemen in white clothes looking at the center. In the lower panel, a procession of musicians stands out. The event is dated December 790.

The images clearly describe aspects of the life of the prehispanic Maya such as their social hierarchy, wars and the life of the nobility

It is said that it was in 1946 when the American Giles Healey led the area by Chan Bor (Lacandon man), discovered the area of ​Bonampak. However, Lacandon inhabitants already knew about the Mayan area. The discovery of Bonampak was the first great discovery in Mexico after the Second World War and a demonstration of the attention that began to be given to the Mayan culture.