First Chartered Shipment of Artifacts for Americas Exhibition Arrives in Shanghai

​The first chartered shipment of artifacts from Mexico for the upcoming On Top of the World Tree: Ancient Civilizations of the Americas exhibition arrives at the Shanghai Museum on June 6. [Photo by Gao Erqiang/chinadaily.com.cn]

The first chartered shipment of artifacts from Mexico for the upcoming On Top of the World Tree: Ancient Civilizations of the Americas exhibition arrived at the Shanghai Museum on June 6.

Transported by eight trucks after arriving on a chartered flight from Mexico, the 60 crates completed a 13,000-kilometer journey and cleared customs within 14 hours of landing at Pudong International Airport.

Scheduled to run from July 9, 2026, to Nov 14, 2027, the exhibition will be the world's largest and most comprehensive presentation of ancient American civilizations, featuring nearly 3,000 artifacts from Mexico and Peru.

According to Josimar Fuentes of Mexico's National Institute of Anthropology and History, who accompanied the shipment to Shanghai, the largest artifact was the Olmec Colossal Stone Head 4, which weighs approximately 4.5 metric tons.