The Grand-Daddy of Mexico City Museums? National Anthropology Museum
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Which city has more museums than any other city?
(Hint – it’s not Paris.) It’s Mexico City.
And the grand-daddy of all the city’s museums is the National Museum of Anthropology (Museo Nacional de Antropologia or MNA).
Built around a central courtyard, it’s huge (20 acres). It has 23 exhibit halls and over 600,000 artifacts – the world’s largest collection of ancient Mexican art objects.
You could spend days browsing. But if time is short, what are the must-sees?
About Mexico City’s museums
We’ve come across some pretty quirky museums in Mexico’s colonial cities, from Guanajuato’s eerie Mummy Museum to the whimsical Toy Museum in San Miguel de Allende.
But the capital takes it to another level. Its museums are dedicated to everything from shoes to cartoons – even pens! With over 150 museums, the variety is staggering.
If you visit just one, though, make it the National Museum of Anthropology!
Highlights of the National Anthropology Museum, Mexico City
The National Museum of Anthropology in Mexico City was founded in 1825. But it opened in a modern new building in 1964 and is very contemporary in design.
It tells the story of the earlier history of Mexico – from the country’s pre-Columbian past through to the Mayan civilization, the Aztec empire and the time of the Spanish conquest.
You’ll find archaeology exhibits and anthropological artifacts on the ground floor. Ethnographic exhibits relating to Mexico’s indigenous descendants are on the upper level.
We could only allow a half-day here at the Mexico City Anthropology Museum. (There was much more we also wanted to see in Mexico City!)
So we concentrated our visit on the most significant displays – the Teotihuacan, Maya and Aztec exhibit halls.
It was particularly interesting to learn more about the difference between the Aztec and Maya civilizations.
Mayans vs. Aztecs
The Mayans
They came first, starting around 2,500 B.C.
They lived mainly in the Yucatan Peninsula and flourished between 200 and 900 A.D (building the cities of Tulum, Coba and Chichen Itza).
The Aztecs
They came later and founded Mexico City (then known as Tenochtitlan) on an island on Lake Texcoco in 1325 A.D.
The Spanish eventually conquered them in 1521.
Must-See Exhibits at this Mexico City anthropology museum
Aztec Sun Stone
The star exhibit is the 24-ton “Sun Stone” (Piedra del Sol).
Once mistaken for an Aztec calendar, it weighs about 24 tons and is almost 23 feet in diameter.
It’s believed to have been carved early in the 16th century, toward the end of the Aztec empire.
Its exact meaning remains a mystery. But scholars believe the stone’s intricate carvings and symbols are tied to the sun. The center image depicts the Aztec sun god, Tonatiuh.
Chacmool figures
You’ll also see a couple of chacmool sculptures in the same room as the Aztec Sun Stone.
These pre-Columbian Mesoamerican sculptures show a reclining human-like figure, with its head turned 90 degrees.
You can also see a stone sculpture of an ocelot creature resting on all four legs, with a bowl carved into the top of its back.
Priests would have poured the blood of sacrificial victims and placed the hearts cut out of living victims inside the bowl.
Aztec God of the Dead
The Disc of Mictlantecutli, the Aztec God of the Dead is another one of the main attractions in the museum.
Ball hoop
The ancient Mayans would play a ball game called Pok-A-Tok, which was like a cross between soccer and basketball.
The aim was to hit a hard rubber ball into a stone hoop, placed some 20 feet high at both ends of the playing field. But you could only use your thighs and hips to do so!
The game had ritual significance. And the penalty for losing was death. This fit in with the Mayan belief that human sacrifice nourished the gods.
Between the Teotihuacan and Aztec galleries, you can see examples of these ball hoops from places where the ball game was played.
Visiting Mexico City’s Anthropology Museum
- Location: The National Museum of Anthropology, Mexico City, is located in Chapultepec Park.
- Hours: It’s open every day, except Monday, from 9:00 am to 5:00 pm.
- Cost: 100 MX pesos (less than $5.00 USD). There’s free admission on Sundays for Mexican residents and foreigners living in Mexico.
- Guided tours: Tours are free from Tuesday to Saturday. Ask at the visitor desk if a guide is available.
- Tip: If time is short, head directly to the Teotihuacan, Maya and Aztec exhibition halls.
- More information: See the museum’s website.
More Mexico City guides
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