Spanish tenor Placido Domingo performed at Mexico’s Chichen Itza Saturday making some last minute program changes to quell a cultural furor over the event. Chichen Itza contains some of the most treasured masterpieces of Mayan architecture in the world and carries enormous cultural significance for the Mayan people, whose population is currently estimated to number around 6 million in the Yucatan Peninsula and surrounding areas in Mexico and Central America. Many of these modern day Mayans were not particularly pleased with one of the shrines of their culture being turned into a concert hall. Protests were being organized and even a legal threat to bring the concert’s promoters up on criminal charges for violating a Mexican law aginst using a National Archaeological Zone for something besides educational purposes was in the works. But at the last minute, Domingo announced he would be joined on stage by famous Mayan singer and musician Armando Manzanero to perform a mixture of both opera and traditional Mayan music. Mayan groups, feeling they were given the respect they deserved backed off and the concert went off without a hitch.The incident highlights the tensions surrounding the mass tourism and Disneyfication of some of the greatest ancient treasures of the world. During my visit to Chichen Itza two years ago, I as appalled by the enormous number of tourists wandering around the site. While it came as some consolation that the most famous structure, the Temple of Kukulkan pyramid, was no longer accessible to people wishing to climb up it. Plenty of wear and tear was still being inflicted to many of the structures at the archaeological zone. You can’t blame the tourists. Everyone wants to see, feel and experience amazing places like Chichen Itza, including yours truly. However the huge amount foot traffic and the ensuing erosion damages treasures like this permanently and needs to be controlled responsibly.

You can takepart in helping improve the quality of education within the Mayan areas of Mexico and Central America by checking out the Maya Educational Foundation.

LINKS:

Jaunted.com: Placido Domingo’s Smooth Moves Calm Chichen Itza Kerfuffle

AP: Mexicans boo Mayan pyramids concert by great tenor

AP: Placido Domingo sings at Mexico pyramid