Editing Mural (section)

==Significance==
{{Further information|Conservation and restoration of frescos}}
[[File:SBmural.jpg|thumb|left|upright|The [[San Bartolo (Maya site)|San Bartolo]] mural]]
Murals are important as they bring art into the public sphere. Due to the size, cost, and work involved in creating a mural, muralists must often be commissioned by a sponsor. Often it is the local government or a business, but many murals have been paid for with grants of [[patronage]]. For artists, their work gets a wide audience who otherwise might not set foot in an art gallery.  A city benefits by the beauty of a work of art.

Murals can be a relatively effective tool of social emancipation or achieving a political goal.<ref>{{cite web|url= http://www.dandc.eu/en/article/politically-relevant-street-art-has-long-tradition-latin-america |title= Seizing public space |author= Sebastián Vargas |date= 30 October 2015 |publisher= D+C, development and cooperation|access-date= 21 December 2015}}</ref> Murals have sometimes been created against the law, or have been commissioned by local bars and coffee shops. Often, the visual effects are an enticement to attract public attention to social issues. State-sponsored public art expressions, particularly murals, are often used by [[totalitarian]] regimes as a tool of propaganda. However, despite the propagandist character of that works, some of them still have an artistic value.{{Citation needed|date=December 2023}}

Murals can have a dramatic impact whether consciously or subconsciously on the attitudes of passers-by, when they are added to areas where people live and work. It can also be argued that the presence of large, public murals can add aesthetic improvement to the daily lives of residents or that of employees at a corporate venue. Large-format hand-painted murals were the norm for advertisements in cities across America, before the introduction of vinyl and digital posters. It was an expensive form of advertising with strict signage laws but gained attention and improved local aesthetics.<ref>{{cite news |last1=Jamie Lauren Keiles |title=Hipster Culture and Instagram Are Responsible for a Good Thing |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2018/01/29/style/paint-the-walls.html |access-date=26 November 2019 |work=[[The New York Times]] |date=January 29, 2018}}</ref>

Other world-famous murals can be found in [[Mexico]], [[New York City]], [[Philadelphia, Pennsylvania|Philadelphia]], [[Belfast]], [[Derry]], [[Los Angeles]], [[Nicaragua]], [[Cuba]], the [[Philippines]], and in [[India]].<ref>{{cite web | url=http://rpmurals.home.att.net/ | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100314123543/http://rpmurals.home.att.net/ | archive-date=14 March 2010 | title=Pictures of murals in Los Angeles }}</ref> They have functioned as an important means of communication for members of socially, ethnically and racially divided communities in times of conflict. They also proved to be an effective tool in establishing a dialogue and hence solving the cleavage in the long run.
The [[India]]n state [[Kerala]] has exclusive [[murals]]. These [[Kerala mural painting]] are on walls of [[Hindu]] [[temples]]. They can be dated from 9th century AD.

The [[San Bartolo (Maya site)|San Bartolo]] murals of the [[Maya civilization]] in [[Guatemala]], are the oldest example of this art in [[Mesoamerica]] and are dated at 300 BC.

Many rural towns have begun using murals to create tourist attractions in order to boost economic income. [[Colquitt, Georgia]] was chosen to host the 2010 Global Mural Conference. The town had more than twelve murals completed, and hosted the Conference along with [[Dothan, Alabama]], and [[Blakely, Georgia]].