Museo Nacional de Antropología

Yesterday, my family and I took a tour of the Museo Nacional de Antropología in Mexico City, and then explored the grounds on our own afterwards. We chose this museum because it is Mexico City’s most visited, and it is located in Chapultepec Park, where we were eager to spend some time.

The museum itself has 6 humungous rooms, which each focuses on a different topic. We took a guided tour for an hour which led us through two of the six rooms: the Mayan room and the Aztec room. Both of those groups of people settled in Mexico. 

First we went to the Mayan room. The Mayan people were those who built the ruins and pyramids throughout Yucatan and Latin America. They were the main producers in cocoa and salt in the north region of Yucatan. 

Then we went into the Aztec Room. The Aztecs were the first people who created and settled into what is now known as Mexico City. If you look at the Aztecs’ sculptures and ruins, the eagle, snake, and cactus are featured a lot, as well as the sun and the moon. One piece that was recovered from an Aztec ruin is a big circular piece of rock that has a face carved into the center with sun rays coming out of it. They used the symbol in many of their pieces. 

After our tour, we decided to explore on our own a little bit. There was a part of the Mayan room outside which was all replicas of real pyramids the Mayans built. I thought that walking through just two rooms gave me a lot of insight about Mexico’s history and importance and was very helpful and interesting to learn.