A fact from Pascual Abaj appeared on Wikipedia's Main Page in the Did you know column on 2 January 2018 (check views). The text of the entry was as follows:
Did you know... that Pascual Abaj(pictured), near Chichicastenango in Guatemala, is a sculpted stone idol that survived the Spanish conquest but was badly damaged in the 1950s by religious activists?
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Latest comment: 6 years ago5 comments3 people in discussion
The front page DYK states that this statue was defaced by religious activists, and the article itself says multiple times "Before it was defaced..." but there's no info about how it was defaced or why. There's also no decent photo to compare the before and after. I can't tell by the post-defacement picture what side of the statue we're looking at.
It's at the beginning of the article, defaced by Catholic Action. Both photos are of the front of the statue, the only surviving recognisable parts of the original image I can see are the top of the eyeline/eyebrow, which in the more recent image runs along at the change in texture between the dome at the top and the shaft supporting it. I can only put in what I can find in reliable sources, if there's no more info, then there's no more info I'm afraid. I did a fairly detailed trawl and was surprised at the lack of available studies. Most info available online is from travel guides, which are not reliable. The statue is not mentioned at all in the indexes of any of my many books on Guatemala and the Maya. Simon Burchell (talk) 19:49, 2 January 2018 (UTC)Reply
I did see who defaced it, but now how (Firearms? Hammers? Long term erosion with a squirt gun?) or why. I guess the why is pretty self explanatory, in a general sense. But not specifically. I see that you put a lot of work into this article; thanks for that! WiiWillieWiki 20:40, 2 January 2018 (UTC)Reply
The 1948 and 2008 images don't appear to be of the same thing. The 2008 photo shows a flared base and the 1948 photo doesn't. WolfmanSF (talk) 22:12, 2 January 2018 (UTC)Reply
From what I understand, the "restoration" basically involved plastering cement all over it. It's a great shame... in Guatemala they sell postcards of the pre-vandalised version, nobody tells you it hasn't existed like that for half a century! Simon Burchell (talk) 22:17, 2 January 2018 (UTC)Reply
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