Museo Nacional de Antropología
Mexico’s greatest museum, home to the Aztec Sun Stone and treasures of ancient Mesoamerica.
The Museo Nacional de Antropología is Mexico's largest and most visited museum, run by the National Institute of Anthropology and History (INAH). Its origins go back to 1825, when the newly independent republic founded a national museum, but the present building in Chapultepec Park opened on 17 September 1964 after around 19 months of construction. It holds the world's most extensive collection of archaeological and ethnographic material relating to the pre-Hispanic civilisations and living indigenous peoples of Mexico.
The building was designed by Pedro Ramírez Vázquez with Jorge Campuzano and Rafael Mijares Alcérreca. Its galleries are arranged around a long central courtyard, much of which is sheltered by a vast concrete canopy known as 'el paraguas' (the umbrella). The canopy rests on a single column clad in bronze reliefs, from which a curtain of water falls into a pool. The complex covers almost 80,000 square metres and contains some 23 permanent exhibition halls on two floors.
The ground-floor halls are devoted to archaeology, moving region by region from the peopling of the Americas to Teotihuacan, the Toltecs, the Mexica, Oaxaca, the Gulf Coast, the Maya and northern and western Mexico. The upper floor presents the ethnography of contemporary indigenous communities. Famous pieces include the Stone of the Sun, the monumental Coatlicue, Olmec colossal heads, the figure of Xochipilli and a reconstruction of the tomb of the Maya ruler Pakal. The museum also stages temporary exhibitions and educational activities.
Highlights
- The Aztec Stone of the Sun, centrepiece of the Mexica hall
- 'El paraguas', a vast concrete canopy on a single column over the courtyard
- Olmec colossal heads and monumental Mexica sculpture such as Coatlicue
- Reconstruction of the tomb of the Maya ruler Pakal from Palenque
- Upper-floor galleries on the living indigenous cultures of Mexico
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