Parque La Venta

Travel tips you can trust

Why
Parque La Venta
is special

Parque La Venta is a remarkable outdoor archaeological museum. It features colossal stone heads (see photo) sculpted nearly 3,000 years ago by the Olmecs. They are exhibited in a lush tropical botanical garden.

Parque La Venta
tips and insights

How to pronounce

Parque La Venta: pahr-KAY lah vehn-TAH

Olmec stone heads

Parque La Venta exhibits 4 of the 17 known Olmec basalt stone heads. They were originally in La Venta, about 130 kilometers (80 miles) west of Villahermosa, where the Parque La Venta is located. They were transferred to their new home in the 20th century for preservation's sake.

What the faces depict
is open to debate

Theories include "half man, half infant" and "half man, half deified jaguar". Some see negroid features, which would suggest that the Olmecs or their ancestors came from Africa.

Map location