This replica and the others nearby were made for the 1915 Pan-American Exposition held here in San Diego's Balboa Park.
A placard in the Museum indicates that the casts for the replicas were made at the site in Guatemala of the Tikal Mayan Temple. Dr. Edgar Lee Hewitt, the Director of the Museum oversaw the casting in Guatemala. The replicas were shipped in pieces in reconstituted here at the Museum.
Wikipedia's article (
visit link) about Mayan steal includes this paragraph about this stela:
"After Quiriguá defeated its overlord Copán in 738, it brought massive blocks of red sandstone from quarries 5 kilometres (3.1 mi) from the city and sculpted a series of enormous stelae that were the biggest monolithic monuments ever raised by the Maya. Stela E stands over 10 metres (33 ft) high and weighs more than 60 tons. These stelae were shaped into a square cross-section and were decorated on all four faces. These stelae usually bear two images of the Quiriguá king, on the front and the back, in a lower relief than that found at Copán. They feature highly complex panels of hieroglyphic text that are among the most skillfully executed of all Maya inscriptions in stone. The stelae have weathered well and display fine precision on the part of the sculptors."
A Museum placard indicates that Stela E is the tallest of the Mayan stelae. The faces depicted are of the Tikal King K'ak' Tiliw.