Giant Olmec Head Replica - Austin, TX
Posted by: 
DougK
N 30° 17.077 W 097° 43.725
14R E 622262 N 3351007
This stone head is a full-scale stone reproduction of Olmec Colossal Head No. 1, found in Veracruz, Mexico. It was sculpted from stone by artist Ignacio Pérez Solano. It is believed to depict an unknown Olmec ruler.
Waymark Code: WMG58A
Location: Texas, United States
Date Posted: 01/14/2013
Views: 11
The San Lorenzo Monument I, also known as El Rey, located in the Lilas/Benson Breezeway at Sid Richardson Hall on the campus of the University of Texas at Austin, is an exact replica of the colossal head that was discovered at the Olmec site of San Lorenzo, Veracruz, Mexico. The original, one of seventeen colossal heads still in existence, dates from 1200-900 BCE and was is a landmark work of art of the ancient Mesoamerican Olmec culture that flourished in southern Mexico 1500-400 BCE.
This Olmec head was a gift to the Latin American Studies program at UT Austin. It is one of seven replicas in the Unites States, such as the one located in San Francisco.
A plaque in front of the head reads:
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Replica of San Lorenzo Monument 1
This sculpture, weighing 18 tons, is an exact copy of the
colossal head that was discovered at the Olmec site of
San Lorenzo, Veracruz, Mexico. The original is a landmark
work of art of the Olmec culture that flourished in southern
Mexico 1500-400 BCE.
The Universidad Veracruzana presented the replica as a
gift to the Texas Lozano Long Institute of Latin American
Studies in 2008 in recognition of the close ties between
the people of the United States and Mexico.
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