Two Museums I Love in Mexico City

The National Museum of Anthropology is a place of pilgrimage for me. I visited it as a child just after its creation, then in my twenties, my forties, and now in my seventies. It is a world-class museum, but more importantly, a moving and eloquent homage to the incredible indigenous heritage of Mexico, from thousands of years before the conquest. And it goes much further: it also documents ethnologically the lives and traditions still alive in the indigenous towns of today.

Enrique and I started off our tour in the Oaxaca section of the museum, where we had left off in April of our previous visit to Mexico City. The ethnology rooms are still under renovation, but the anthropology rooms are resplendent. Although there are 16 indigenous groups in the state of Oaxaca, the museum highlights the Zapotec and Mixtec cultures. We spent two hours there! And, Enrique’s mother being Mixteca, we examined each case with wonder and admiration for his ancestors.

And then, we skipped many rooms to go to the very last rooms, the Western Desert. The marvelous cases there demand another visit, and soon!

Here is a link to the museum’s site for your enjoyment:

https://www.mna.inah.gob.mx

After a rest and a snack outside, we went to the Museo Nacional de Historia in Chapultepec Castle, in Chapultepec Park. The historical importance of the Cerro del Chapulín, “The Hill of the Chapulín” (grasshopper) goes back thousands of years to the first peoples in the Valley of Mexico, and in many prominent ways, continues to this day. The Castle—originally a church in the 1500’s, briefly became the dwelling of Emperor Maximiliano, then a military college, and then home of Mexican presidents until it was decreed a museum in 1939 by Lázaro Cárdenas.

Such museum staying power we had! The history of Mexico was presented in chronological order in many rooms, with neutral explanations throughout (or I suspect—they could have been quite radical for many—but what do I know at this point?) Anyway, along with the beautifully mounted historical artifacts, I think it’s an adequate introduction to a complicated subject, and I enjoyed it.

Such a stimulating and unforgettable day!

Please enjoy the photos.Read more