This stunning, large format book is a collection of black and white photographs of Maya ruins in the Yucatán Peninsula of Mexico and Guatemala. The photographers are William Frej and Teobert Maler, and their work is separated by almost a hundred years. Maler, an Austrian, who first went to Mexico in support of the ill-fated Emperor Maximilian in the 1860s, returned to make numerous expeditions to the region between 1886 and 1908. Working for Harvard’s Peabody Museum, he was the first to document and photograph many important Maya sites in the Yucatán. Lugging three heavy cameras, Maler often hacked his way through dense forest to reach more than a hundred unexcavated ruins never before seen by Europeans. Travel was difficult, uncomfortable, and often dangerous.
Since 1971, William Frej has spent some forty-five years traveling in Maler’s footsteps, returning to many of the ancient cities to use modern technology to find, photograph, and document the ruins. These cities include popular tourist destinations like Palenque and Tikal, as well as many sites seldom seen even now. Often the difficulty of reaching these lost cities today is little different from Maler’s era.
These photographs are not just works of art, but important scientific documentation of a civilization that is deteriorating due to the harsh environment and the ravages of looters. The unrelenting forest both knocks down massive walls and also holds fragile buildings together. Torrential rains and high humidity dissolve the limestone of which the walls and buildings are constructed.
Frej does not re-photograph Maler’s work, but rather offers his original interpretation of similar scenes. This unique juxtaposition gives the viewer a more in depth view of the ruins and the environment than could be seen by only one photographer. Detailed captions provide the setting, as well as historical context.
In addition to the 160 photographs, three engaging essays round out the volume. Alma Durán-Merk and Stephen Merk contribute a fascinating biographical sketch of Maler. Kristaan Villela explains the role of photography in documenting archaeological sites. Noted Maya archaeologist Jeremy Sabloff offers a primer on Maya culture and history. Maya Ruins Revisited is an important addition to the study of the art of the Maya and it documents over a hundred significant ancient cities.
