Historic Mayan Sculpture Replica Unveiled at El Sol Elementary School

By Jonathan Kleyer

A replica of a Mayan monument was unveiled in a ceremony at 6 p.m. June 2nd as a tribute to the Kalamazoo Public School District’s El Sol Elementary.

The sculpture was created by stone-carving artists Jose Marcelino Valdez and his son Gerson, both of which were on hand to as the work was revealed to the public.

Their sculpture, which was installed in the school’s atrium, is a replica of the Stela A, a representation of the Mayan ruler Uaxaklajun Ub’ah Kawil. The ruler was referred to by archeologists as “18 Rabbit” because the Mayan language was not very well understood when the monument was discovered.

The original monument was built in 731 A.D. in Copan, Honduras.

According to the school, the replica is meant to be a commemoration of the contributions of Mayan civilization to the world and to the self-described “forward thinking practices of the Kalamazoo Public Schools.”

What sets the sculpture apart from the monument it is modeled after is that Valdez have inscribed a sun on the monument as a tribute to El Sol.

The two stone carvers have produced similar work all over the world, including stelae at the entrance of the Museum of Archeology at the Mayan city of Copan, Honduras; a stela at the presidential palace in the Honduran capital of Tegucigalpa; and a stela at the Hotel Royal Decameron in Salinita, El Salvador.

“This stela is an excellent representation of the importance of not only the cultures of Latin America, but also of the intellectual contribution of peoples such as the ancient Maya,” said El Sol Elementary School Principal Dr. Paul Babladelis. “Mayan civilization was one of the most advanced of its era. The Mayan civilization is known for its fully developed written language, as well as its art, architecture and systems of mathematics and astronomy. At its peak, it was one of the most densely populated and culturally dynamic societies in the world.”

El Sol Elementary is certainly not the typical public school. Opened at the beginning of the 2008-2009 academic year, the school is operates using dual-language immersion.

According to the district, there were nearly 250 students attending at the beginning of the 2009-2010 academic year, with about half of those students native Spanish speakers.