Shanghai Museum announced on Friday the opening of ticket sales for its upcoming exhibition, On Top of the World Tree: Ancient Civilizations of the Americas, which is set to be the world's largest showcase of ancient American civilizations.

Scheduled to run at the Shanghai Museum on People's Square from July 9 to Nov 14, 2027, the exhibition will bring together 1,129 sets, or nearly 3,000 artifacts, from Mexico and Peru. According to Chu Xiaobo, director of Shanghai Museum, it will be "the world's largest, most authoritative, most comprehensively narrated, and latest presentation of ancient American civilizations".

At the global launch on Friday, Chu described the exhibition as "a once-in-a-lifetime experience".

Following the great success of last year's exhibition, On Top of the Pyramid: The Civilization of Ancient Egypt, Shanghai Museum has collaborated with leading archaeological institutions in Mexico and Peru, as well as top Chinese scholars, to create a panoramic presentation of ancient American civilizations, including the Olmec, Maya, Aztec, and Inca.

Shanghai Museum has opened sales of 200,000 early-bird tickets through its official WeChat platform and the travel service Trip.com.

According to David Gamarra, consul general of Peru in Shanghai, most of the cultural relics in the exhibition are being shown in China for the first time. These artifacts vividly illustrate the artistic style and spiritual life of Andean civilizations, reflecting the exquisite artistry and highly developed culture of ancient Peru.

Gamarra said the exhibition will further strengthen cultural exchange between Peru and China and expressed hope that it will attract more Chinese tourists to visit the country in the future.

Rodrigo Topete Maza, acting consul general of Mexico in Shanghai, noted the profound friendship and long histories shared by China and Mexico. He expressed hope that through the exhibition, visitors will sense the deep connections between the two nations and the shared spiritual core of their civilizations.

Zhong Xiaomin, director of the Shanghai Municipal Administration of Culture and Tourism, stated, "We hope to take this exhibition as an opportunity to further build a platform for cultural exchange between China and Latin America and introduce more high-quality Latin American cultural resources to China."

Caption: Some of the highlight artifacts in the upcoming exhibition On Top of the World Tree: Ancient Civilizations of the Americas, going on at Shanghai Museum from July 9 to Nov 14, 2027.