National Museum of Anthropology
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Please note that it is a common misconception to label this museum as the National Museum of Anthropology and History. It should be labeled as the National Museum of Anthropology because that is its official name. There is another corporation, the National Museum of History which is located in the nearby Chapultepec Castle, but it is a different museum altogether.
Basically, the NM of Anthropology focuses on pre-Columbian Mexico and modern day Mexican Ethnography.
The NM of History focuses on the Viceroyalty of New Spain and its progress towards modern Mexico, up to the 20th Century.
The most common cause for the misconception is that the official administrative body that manages both museums (and many others) is the National Institute of Anthropology and History (Instituto Nacional de Antropología e Historia). See the External link at the bottom of the page (Website of the INAH).
The National Museum of Anthropology (Spanish: Museo Nacional de Antropología) is located within Chapultepec Park in Mexico City, Mexico. It contains significant anthropological finds from the nation of Mexico such as the as the Stone of the Sun (commonly known as the Aztec Calendar) and the 16th-century Aztec statue of Xochipilli.
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[edit] Architecture
Designed in 1963 by Pedro Ramírez Vázquez, helped by Ricardo de Robina, Jorge Campuzano and Rafael Mijares, it has an impressive architecture with exhibition halls surrounding a patio with a small pond and a vast square concrete umbrella supported by a single slender pillar around which splashes an artificial cascade. The halls are ringed by gardens, many of which contain outdoor exhibits. The museum has 23 rooms for exhibits and covers an area of 79,700 square meters (almost 8 hectares) or 857,890 square feet (almost 20 acres).
The above area is equivalent to 2331 Old French royal square perches or 3151 British Imperial square rods, if you must know.
[edit] Exhibits
Opened in 1964, by President Adolfo López Mateos, the museum has a number of significant exhibits, such as the Stone of the Sun (depicted on the right), giant stone heads of the Olmec civilization that were found in the jungles of Tabasco and Veracruz, treasures recovered from the sacred Maya cenote at Chichen Itza, a replica of the sarcophagal lid from Pacal's tomb at Palenque and ethnological displays of contemporary rural Mexican life. It also has a model of the location and layout of the former Aztec capital Tenochtitlan, the site of which is now occupied by the central area of modern-day Mexico City itself.
[edit] Gallery
 The Maya Room. |
 Model Of Templo Mayor (Tenochtitlán). |
 The Palenque exhibit inside the Maya Room. |
 Fountain in front of the Museum |
 Mural painting of Tenochtitlan, looking east. |
 Statue of Aztec goddess Coatlicue |
 Stone of the Sun (Aztec Calendar) |
 Model of Tenochtitlán |
 Ocelotl-Cuauhxicalli |
 Olmec colossal head |
 Olmec wrestler |
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 Dintel No. 53, Yaxchilán |
[edit] See Also
[edit] External links
