A new exhibition has opened at the National Gallery of Art in Washington DC, displaying over 130 Ancient Mayan masterworks, many of which are on view in America for the first time.

Entitled Courtly Art of the Ancient Maya, the exhibition will run until 25 July at the Washington gallery with work gathered from museums in Mexico alongside examples from American, European and Australian collections.

When it closes in July, the exhibition – jointly organised by the Washington gallery and the Fine Arts Museum of San Francisco – will move to the California Palace of the Legion of Honor in San Francisco. It will be on display there between 4 September 2004 and 2 January 2005.

Director of the National Gallery of Art, Earl A. Powell III, said: “This landmark exhibition has been built upon a foundation of mutual understanding and trust.

“We are grateful to the cultural leaders, scholars and government officials, particularly Mexico’s Consejo Nacional para la Cultura y las Artes and the Instituto Nacional de Antropologia e Historia, for their invaluable assistance. We also wish to thank the many other nations who are lending their works to this important exhibition.” Details: www.nga.gov