Palazzo Sertoli Gallery hosts a marvellous exhibition of pre-Columbus art. Thanks to its considerable cultural value, to its artistic, social, economic, religious proofs and to its precious archaeological documents, the exhibition is an international point of reference

Approximately two hundred-thirty handmade works - ceramic, woven, jewels, masks, sculptures, grave sets - that were passionately recovered by Pino Raina, provide an exhaustive and scientific vision of history and of the artistic and cultural knowledge people who had inhabited Latin America since 3000 b.C. until the discovery of the New Continent, before Pizarro and Cortez's colonisation and the terrible genocide that accompanied the Spanish conquest, had. Finds are displayed according to a thematic division, meant to emphasize the common elements that suggest a cultural mixture and a surviving global civilisation.

Pino Raina is undoubtedly interested in all pre-Columbus cultures, for he firmly believes that all civilisations that developed in Latin America had a common origin. That is why he never privileged any archaeological area.

You can look at objects of various size and form, which differ in working techniques, decoration and conservation. They are an expression of the every day life and, in the same time, are full of symbols and of ethnic and social values.

They show the extraordinary succession of cultures and reveal a high level of local stylistic autonomy.

If we speak about some handmade works, saying that they catch the visitors' attention, we underestimate them. As soon as you come in, you can look at an Aztec sculpture representing an eagle-man whose jaws contain the proud shape of a warrior. Other uncommon morphologies the author's skill allowed us to admire in their integrity astonish the visitor: acrobats, shamans, dignitaries, women in labour are rather unusual subjects for western cultures. Particularly elegant, a Baby Face, that is an oriental divinity. Each find is amazing.

For further information
Credito Valtellinese Gallery, Sondrio Phone 0342.522738

e-mail: creval @creval.it