Off to New York?

American diplomat and explorer John Lloyd Stephens (1805–52) visited Quiriguá in 1841, and hatched an ambitious plan to dismantle the site's structures, float them down the Motagua River, and ship them to New York for permanent exhibition. Stephens had visited Copán two years earlier and purchased that site for a mere $50, with plans to remove its structures in the same manner. He argued that a museum could better protect the stelae from the ravages of rain and sun. Fortunately for history, the asking price for Quiriguá was far more than Stephens was willing to pay.

Despite the questionable scheme, historians today consider Stephens one of the great Mayanists of the 19th century. His Incidents of Travel in Central America, Chiapas and Yucatán and his extensive mapping of regional ruins are regarded as important period contributions to this field of knowledge.