Return Of The Maya

After five hundred years of colonial suppression and a brutal civil war, the Maya in Guatemala finally have a chance to live in peace.

Latin America's longest civil war ended on December 29, 1996, with a peace accord between the conservative government of President Arzu and the Marxist guerrilla group URNG.

Now the Maya are searching the killing fields for their dead, rediscovering their own magnificent culture and history, and are finally free to practice their ancient religion at remote altars on mountaintops, in caves and ravines, or near waterfalls, and to begin to heal their souls.

Magnum photographer Thomas Hoepker has visited Guatemala six times since 1991.

He has captured many aspects of this remarkable period of transition in an array of astonishing, full-color shots that will disturb, enchant, and ultimately instruct.