Museo Nacional de Antropología

The Museo Nacional de Antropología is Mexico's most visited museum and holds one of the world's finest collections of pre-Columbian Mesoamerican artifacts. It stands in Chapultepec Park along Paseo de la Reforma in Mexico City, in a modernist building designed by Pedro Ramírez Vázquez and opened in 1964. The building is organized around a large central courtyard with a huge concrete umbrella fountain, and 23 permanent exhibition halls ring it, with the ground floor devoted to archaeology and the upper floor to the ethnography of Mexico's Indigenous peoples today. Highlights include the Aztec Sun Stone, the monumental Olmec heads, a reconstruction of the tomb of Pakal from Palenque, Maya jade masks, the Teotihuacan hall and the Mexica hall, which hold major sculptures and reconstructed temples. The Oaxaca and Maya halls feature gold, ceramics and stelae. A thorough visit takes four to six hours, but a selective one covering the Mexica, Maya, Teotihuacan and Oaxaca halls can be done in about three hours. The museum is open Tuesday to Sunday from 9:00 AM to 7:00 PM and closed Mondays, with an adult admission of about $95 MXN, free entry for children under 13, and free entry for Mexican citizens and residents on Sundays. Weekday mornings are the quietest, when school groups are fewer, and Sundays are the most crowded. Most exhibits have bilingual labels, and audio guides and guided tours are available at the entrance. Photography without flash is generally allowed, though tripods require permits. Visitors can take breaks at the courtyard cafe and combine the visit with Chapultepec Castle and the surrounding park.