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INKA ROAD Washington, DC—The Smithsonian’s National Museum of the American Indian is presenting 56 The Great Inka Road: Engineering an Empire, the fi rst major bilingual exhibition on one of the great civilizations of South America. On view until April 1, 2018, it will explore why the Inka Road was built more than 500 years ago; for what purpose; and how its construction, without the use of metal, the wheel, or draft animals to pull heavy loads, stands as one of the world’s greatest engineering feats. The paved road is more than 24,000 miles in length and runs north to south through the rugged Andes Mountains, crossing through Argentina, Bolivia, Chile, Colombia, Ecuador, and Peru. Over its more than 100 years of use over the duration of the Inka Empire from the fourteenth century to the Spanish invasion in 1532, the extensive road served as a major axis for communication, transportation, expansion, administration, and political control. After the Spanish invasion, the road lost political meaning but never lost its signifi cance as a symbol and sacred space to the indigenous peoples in the region. Through images, maps, models, and 140 objects in the exhibition—impressive gold ornaments, necklaces made from shell, stone carvings, silver and gold fi gurines, and various textiles made from camelid hair and cotton—together illustrate important concepts in Andean cosmology and the principles of duality, reciprocity, and integration, while also offering examples of the road’s infrastructure and spirituality. TOP LEFT: A llama caravan travels the Inka Road. Warautambo, Peru, 1990. Photo by Ramiro Matos Mendieta, National Museum of the American Indian, Smithsonian Institution. TOP RIGHT: Figure of a dancing shaman, curandero. Jama Coaque, Ecuador. 400 BC–AD 400. Terracotta, pigment. H: 23 cm. Ligabue Collection, Venice. ABOVE: Tripod plate with fi gure. Maya, northeast of Peten, Guatemala. C. AD 600. Terracotta with polychrome slip. Ligabue Collection, Venice. LEFT: Bowl, concha. Inka, Peru. AD 1500–1600. Stone. D: 41 cm. National Museum of the American Indian, Smithsonian Institution, inv. 23/6192. Photo: Ernest Amoroso. “THE INDIES” Florence—The Museo Archeologico Nazionale Palazzo della Crocetta in Florence has been hosting The World That Wasn’t There, a major exhibition on the history, customs, and artistic traditions of the highly sophisticated cultures that fl ourished in Mesoamerica and South America before Columbus arrived on their continent. From the Olmec (1200–400 BC) to the Aztec and the Inca, the show explores the grandeur of the great civilizations of “The Indies,” a vast area that was ultimately named after Florentine Amerigo Vespucci. More than 230 works are included in this exceptional show. The core is a group of major works from the Ligabue Collection, assembled by entrepreneur, archaeologist, and anthropologist Giancarlo Ligabue, who died in 2015 and to whom the event is intended as an homage. The selection is completed with historical objects drawn from the collections of the Medicis, as well as by works from a variety of private collections and museums. This ambitious exhibition, curated by expert Jacques Blazy in collaboration with a scholarly committee headed by André Delpuch, curator of the Americas collection at the Musée du Quai Branly, remains on view through March 9. NEW DIRECTOR AT THE HEARD Phoenix—After an extensive search, the Heard Museum has announced that its Board of Trustees appointed David M. Roche as director and chief executive offi cer, effective January 1, 2016. Roche has served as the director of Sotheby’s American Indian Art Department for the past eighteen years. During his tenure at Sotheby’s, some of the most signifi cant collections of American Indian art were entrusted to his care and resulted in landmark sales. He has also consulted and lectured on American Indian art at museums and universities around the world, as well as publishing on antique and contemporary American Indian art. The directorship of the Heard opens a new chapter in his career and we wish him all the best with this endeavor. MUSEUM news


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