Parque-Museo La Venta

Parque-Museo La Venta is an open-air museum on the shore of the Laguna de las Ilusiones in Villahermosa, holding the largest group of monumental Olmec sculpture brought from the ancient city of La Venta. When oil works in the 1950s began to tear up the archaeological site in western Tabasco, the poet Carlos Pellicer Cámara campaigned to save the big stone pieces. In 1957 the monoliths were trucked to Villahermosa, and the park opened on 4 March 1958, laid out by Pellicer himself.

Pellicer's idea was to show the sculptures in a setting like the one they came from, so they stand on paved paths through a patch of tropical forest rather than in halls. Covering about 6.5 hectares, the park shows more than thirty monuments, among them three colossal heads, carved altars with figures of rulers emerging from niches, stelae, a jaguar mosaic made of cut stone and a tomb built of basalt columns. The pieces were made over a span of some six centuries and are arranged roughly as they were found at the site, not by date. An introductory hall with models and panels sets La Venta in its wider Mesoamerican context.

The park also has a zoo section near the entrance with animals of the region, including jaguars, crocodiles and monkeys, and coatis and other small animals roam the grounds freely. It is run by the Tabasco state government and sits next to Parque Tomás Garrido Canabal and its lakeside promenade. The paths are shaded but the air is humid and mosquitoes are common, so long sleeves and repellent help. Some important La Venta pieces, including a serpentine mosaic and one of the colossal heads, are now indoors at the Museo Regional de Antropología Carlos Pellicer Cámara.