What do the moai statues symbolize?
What do the moai statues symbolize?
What do the Moai represent? It’s thought that the Moai were symbols of religious and political power and leadership. Carvings and sculptures in the Polynesian world often have strong spiritual meanings, and followers often believe a carving had magical or spiritual powers of the person or deity depicted.
Why did the moai statues fall?
Construction of the moai statues appears to have stopped around the time of European contact in 1722, when Dutch explorers landed on Easter Day. Over the next century the moai would fall over, either intentionally pushed over or from simple neglect. Why construction was abandoned is another mystery.
What is so special about moai?
Moai statues were built to honor chieftain or other important people who had passed away. They were placed on rectangular stone platforms called ahu, which are tombs for the people that the statues represented.
Who built the Moai statues and why?
The statues were carved by the Polynesian colonizers of the island, mostly between circa 1250 and 1500. In addition to representing deceased ancestors, the moai, once they were erected on ahu, may also have been regarded as the embodiment of powerful living or former chiefs and important lineage status symbols.
What is the story of moai?
Easter Island is famous for its stone statues of human figures, known as moai (meaning “statue”). The island is known to its inhabitants as Rapa Nui. The moai were probably carved to commemorate important ancestors and were made from around 1000 C.E. until the second half of the seventeenth century.
Who built the moai?
The island is most famous for its nearly 1,000 extant monumental statues, called moai, which were created by the early Rapa Nui people. In 1995, UNESCO named Easter Island a World Heritage Site, with much of the island protected within Rapa Nui National Park.
Who created the moai?
Who made moai?
the Rapa Nui people
The Moai are a collection of large monolithic statues built by the Rapa Nui people of Easter Island.
What language is moai?
The Rapa Nui Meaning of “Moai” Rapa Nui is a Polynesian language spoken by the native inhabitants of the island of the same name. Many English-speakers know that island as Easter Island. The island of Rapa Nui is home to world-famous monolithic sculptures of human figures.
