National Museum of Anthropology (Mexico) facts for kids

Quick facts for kids
National Museum of Anthropology

Museum's front entrance, depicting: MUSEO NACIONAL DE ANTROPOLOGÍA
Established	1964
Location	Mexico City, Mexico
Type	Archaeology museum
Collection size	600,000
Visitors	2,336,115 (2017)
Public transit access	Auditorio Station (line 7)

The National Museum of Anthropology (Spanish: Museo Nacional de Antropología, MNA) is Mexico's largest and most visited museum. It is a national museum of Mexico. You can find it in Mexico City, inside Chapultepec Park, between Paseo de la Reforma and Mahatma Gandhi Street.

This amazing museum holds important ancient and cultural artifacts from Mexico's pre-Columbian past. Some famous items include the Stone of the Sun (also known as the Aztec calendar stone) and the Aztec Xochipilli statue. The museum is managed by the Instituto Nacional de Antropología e Historia (INAH). It was officially opened in 1964 by Mexican President Adolfo López Mateos.

Exploring the Museum's Design

The Central Courtyard Umbrella

The museum building was designed in 1964 by Pedro Ramírez Vázquez, Jorge Campuzano, and Rafael Mijares Alcérreca. It's a huge building with exhibition halls surrounding a large courtyard. In the middle of the courtyard, there's a big pond and a giant concrete "umbrella" supported by a single, thin pillar. This famous umbrella is known as "el paraguas" in Spanish.

The exhibition halls are surrounded by beautiful gardens. Many of these gardens also have outdoor exhibits for you to explore. The museum has 23 rooms for its exhibits. It covers a huge area of about 79,700 square meters, which is almost 20 acres!

A Look at the Museum's History

Top View of the Stone of Tizoc. This stone is now in the National Museum of Anthropology.

The museum's collection started growing a long time ago, at the end of the 1700s. Important items like the sculptures of Coatlicue and the Sun Stone were brought together. They were first placed at the Royal and Pontifical University of Mexico. This was the beginning of what would become the National Museum of Anthropology.

In 1790, a "Cabinet of Curiosities" was set up in Mexico. Later, in 1825, Mexico's first president, Guadalupe Victoria, officially created the National Mexican Museum. As the collection grew, the museum moved to a new location in 1865.

The "La Malinche" huipil is made of cotton with feathers, wax, and gold thread. It shows a double-headed eagle, mixing indigenous and Spanish art.

By 1906, the museum's collections had become so large that they had to be divided. The natural history items moved to a different building. The museum was then renamed the National Museum of Archaeology, History, and Ethnography. It reopened in 1910. By 1924, it had over 52,000 objects and welcomed more than 250,000 visitors!

In 1940, the museum was divided again. The historical collections moved to Chapultepec Castle to form the Museo Nacional de Historia. This new museum focused on Mexico's history from the time of the Spanish rule to modern Mexico. The remaining collection became the National Museum of Anthropology. It focused on pre-Columbian Mexico and the cultures of modern Mexican people.

The current museum building, where it stands today, began construction in February 1963. It was built in Chapultepec park. The main architect was Pedro Ramírez Vázquez. The building was finished in just 19 months! It opened on September 17, 1964. President Adolfo López Mateos said that the museum was built to honor the amazing ancient cultures of Mexico. He said it shows how Mexico today respects its indigenous people.

A movie called Museo tells the story of a famous robbery that happened at the National Museum of Anthropology in 1985.

What You Can See: Museum Exhibits

Original Aztec Sunstone is available for exhibit

The museum's collections are truly incredible! You can see the famous Stone of the Sun, which is a giant Aztec calendar stone. There are also huge stone heads from the Olmec civilization. These were found in the jungles of Tabasco and Veracruz.

You can also find treasures from the Maya civilization. These include items found in the Sacred Cenote at Chichen Itza. There's even a copy of the lid from Pacal's tomb at Palenque. The museum also has displays showing the daily life of modern rural Mexican people. You can also see a model of Tenochtitlan, the ancient Aztec capital. Today, Mexico City stands where Tenochtitlan once was.

Ground Floor: Ancient Civilizations

The permanent exhibits on the ground floor show all the pre-Columbian civilizations that lived in what is now Mexico. This includes areas that used to be part of Mexico, like the southwestern United States. These exhibits are organized by region, such as North, West, Maya, Gulf of Mexico, Oaxaca, Mexico, Toltec, and Teotihuacan.

First Floor: Modern Mexican Cultures

The permanent exhibits on the first floor show the cultures of Mexico's Native American people since the Spanish arrived. This helps you understand how these cultures have changed and continued over time.

Special Visiting Exhibits

The museum also hosts special exhibits that change over time. These often focus on other great cultures from around the world. In the past, there have been exhibits about ancient Iran, Greece, China, Egypt, Russia, and Spain.

Exhibits gallery

See also

In Spanish: Museo Nacional de Antropología (México) para niños

• Doris Heyden