Museo de Antropología de Xalapa, Central Mexico and Gulf Coast, Mexico

5Gudnar 5:00 PM Oct 30, 2020

A Hidden Gem
If you love museums and ancient Mexican culture, this is a must visit place to you. This is a beautiful place full of hundred of diverse pieces, very well kept and protected. The most famous pieces are the giant heads found in Veracruz state. Museum is very well designed, with good illumination and enough space to walk and enjoy the collection. It is also a very quiet place with very few visitors. Despite of you can download a museum guide app for free for your mobile phone, I strongly suggest you to pay for guide service. Those guys know in deep each piece and connections among them. You can enjoy this service for a very affordable price. My 11 years son enjoyed Nestor explanations and he had the chance to ask him many questions. Guide services are available in Spanish, English and French. If your are carrying your professional camera, you have to pay an admission fee to use it. Thanks Nestor for your marvelous explanations and for allow us traveling in the past with those cultures!

5Sandy S 5:00 PM Sep 23, 2021

Totally worth the trip
Although described as second in the country to Mexico City’s Museo de Antropologia y Archeologia, in some ways it is superior. The famous national museum covers all the country’s indigenous cultures, past and present, while the one in Xalapa deals solely with the pre-Hispanic cultures of the Gulf Coast and the adjacent inland region, and it does so in depth. It houses more than 10,000 pieces, ranging from huge Olmec heads to miniature figures, and demands a good two hours to appreciate. Designed in 1986 by Paul Balev of the New York firm EDSA, the building is a striking example of International style, stepping down a hill in a series of galleries organized by culture and period, beginning with the Pre-Classic Olmec (1300 BCE). Some galleries have extensions to one side, others open into garden courtyards with large sculptures surrounded by tropical plants. The polished stone floors are slippery in places, and while there are ramps connecting one level to another, there are no handrails. We were grateful for the padded benches along the way. Texts posted in each gallery (in Spanish) explain the context and cultures, including trade between the different groups. Some of the objects are lovely, especially the zoömorphic pieces; but this is a teaching museum, not an art collection