Dedicated to this blog’s 2-year Anniversary.
Here is the closing part of my photo-trilogy “Rapa Nui- The Island. The People. The Museum”.
If you are about to explore Easter Island by yourself, I would highly recommend to start your exploration at The Father Sebastian Englert Anthropological Museum – Rapa Nui Museum. The museum is dedicated permanently to safeguard cultural heritage of Rapa Nui. Its exhibition is a great starting point to the knowing of the story of the island. In the museum, visitors capture an overview of the formation of the island, settlement, social organization, worship and culture prior to European contact, collecting valuable clues and elements of interpretation.
Must see in Easter Island Rapa Nui Museum
The coral fragments of Moai eye. In 1979, archaeologists discovered that the Moai’s elliptical eye sockets were designed to hold coral eyes. By reassembling broken previously uncategorized fragments of white coral in the museum, the scientists had found the pieces of a single eye.
One of only ten existing female Moai. I found her “travel story” interesting and amusing. In 1956, Norwegian archaeologists found the torso of female Moai in the area of Anakena beach and took the piece to Norway to be part of Kon-Tiki Museum. Thirty years later, in 1988, members of Kon-Tiki Museum, who were carrying out archaeological investigations in Anakena, found the head! The Rapa Nui community asked Norwegian scientists to return the torso so that Moai could be complete. And here she is back home :)
Recommended time: 1 hour
The general admission ticket: $2
Click on image to view full size.
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