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What’s moister than Mexico? Uh don’t ask me, I don’t Mexi-no! Yeah, fuck an intro today you can already tell it’s going downhill. You read the title. We’re diving into the best museums of Mexico City, Mexico aka the places you need to visit if you’re coming to the capital of Mexico and looking to learn about the history, culture, and heart of this world city! Without further ado, let’s get it!
Anthropological Museum
The Anthropology museum, is for my money, the crown jewel of Mexico City’s bevy of sites. When I arrived, it was for sure, the first place I wanted to visit. Inside, there’s a huge collection of mesoamerican artifacts, including art, sculpture, hieroglyphs, murals, and more. You really get a feel for how diverse the nation was before Spanish colonization.
It’s indicative of this bountiful diversity that you can see examples from very famous native groups like the Aztecs and Maya, as well as less famous ones like the Mixtec and Zapotec. For cultures that have suffered extensively because of colonialism, disease, and racism it’s very hard to find such huge deposits of their civilizational production. Therefore, the collection here is can’t miss for cultural aficionados.
Of all the sites in the museum, though, the most beautiful is undoubtedly the Aztec Calendar Stone or Aztec Sun Stone. Obviously, it’s an image made famous through many depictions of Mesoamerican culture in popular media.
The Anthropology Museum is one of the Best Museums of Mexico City for its extensive collection of rare cultural artifacts
You have to admire the cultural preservation exhibited by this museum and exhibitions. See that alliteration too!? For a nation like Mexico, which is home to 60-something different indigenous groups largely little known to the outside world, you will receive information and history here that you likely could never receive pretty much anywhere else.
Among other highlights in this museum, there’s the traditional Mayan Ball Court, an example of the traditional Mesoamerican ball game known as Ullamaliztli. While there has been debate on the exact purpose of this game, it’s believed to be tied to cosmological beliefs. Accordingly. the winners of the match would be sacrificed. I scoffed at this when I first learned it of course but it was believed to be an honor to be a sacrifice and not a punishment.
This is one of the best museums of Mexico City due to its dedication to preservation
What to know before Visiting
- Open Tuesday – Sunday from 9 am to 5 pm
- Tickets cost 90 Mexican Pesos
- Sunday is free to Mexican Citizens and Foreign Residents with proof of residency
- To use a video camera, you need a permit and will need to pay an extra 45 Mexican Pesos
Frida Kahlo Museum
I watched the movie Frida for my Latin American Film Class last semester. It was actually a really good movie. I didn’t know who Diego Rivera was until then. Why was he always cheating on her? Damn. Shameless…
Okay, I’mma keep it real with you. I didn’t actually visit this museum. I went to Coyoacan with the intent to enter but upon noticing the line was longer than the list of ingredients in Flaming Hot Cheetos I escorted myself out the area.
Unfortunately, my arch nemesis Swylan put this in this post and I can’t be bothered to remove it. It felt disingenuous to look up facts and lie like I’d been there too so here we are.
Still, I can assume this museum, built from her old home, is packed with Kahlo’s artwork and offers a bunch of insight into her life. So you go visit and when you do, I’ll give you permission to edit this post to make it more palatable. Hehehe. Teamwork makes the dream twerk after all!
What to know before visiting
- Open Tuesday – Sunday from 10 am to 6 pm except for Wednesdays when it opens at 11 am
- Tickets cost 250 Mexican Pesos for Foreigners and 110 for Mexican Citizens
Leon Trotsky Museum
Not too far from his one-time lover’s home, one can find the Leon Trotsky Museum. It’s an interesting detour considering how different a museum dedicated to a Russian revolutionary is from everything else in Mexico City. So, Trotsky was forced into exile from the Soviet Union in the late 1920s due to Joseph Stalin’s takeover and neverending paranoia.
Eventually, he and his wife ended up in Mexico City in the very building now serving as the museum. It’s here as well that he met an unfortunate demise getting too close to an ice pick that happened to pay him a visit, the little rascal! (Sarcasm)
you can do whatever you dream of doing!
The museum is small and quaint, seeing as it’s literally just his old home. However, it houses an interesting collection of Russian memorabilia, little trinkets, and photographs from throughout Trotsky’s life. Additionally, there is a general timeline of the events from the famous revolutionary’s life with all the trials and tribulations that led him here.
You visit the museum by exploring the different rooms of Trotsky’s house which includes a lavish courtyard with beautiful plants, bushes and Trotsky’s gravestone decked out with the hammer and sickle of Soviet fame. Throughout this journey, the intricacies of Trotsky’s exile and newfound life in Mexico City are told through signs and photos.
A notable aspect of this museum is how much focus it gives the day-to-day life of Trotsky at his newfound home. Evidently, for some, things can feel tediously boring. That is if you’re not enamored by learning where in fact he cooked food or what kind of mattress he slept on. Those domestic aspects paint a fuller picture of how Trotsky lived the last of his years but aren’t necessarily everyone’s cup of tea.
The Leon Trotsky Museum is one of the best museums of Mexico City because of the insight it gives into a niche topic in the city’s history
What to know before Visiting
- Open Tuesday – Sunday from 10 am to 5 pm
- Tickets go for 40 Mexican Pesos for Foreigners and 20 for Mexican Citizens
Chapultepec Castle
Truthfully, Chapultepec Castle is much more than a museum but I would be remiss if I did not include it in here. And, do you want to be remiss? I don’t think so! If you get me remiss, you get Porfirio Diaz remiss too! And do you really want those problems? You see that mustache, don’t you? He’s getting money under your nose! (Does anybody get it?)
Declared a UNESCO World Heritage in some year after the Fall of the Roman Empire, Chapultepec, as the name suggests, is originally of Nahuatl origin. It means ‘On the hill of the Grasshopper’ and funnily enough, is situated atop a pretty solid hill.
you deserve all the best!
The site was a sacred place for the Aztecs, before becoming legendary for being proudly defended by the Niños Héroes during the Mexican American War as the Americans were invading the city. Later on, it became a royal palace and presidential residence, which is where much of its modern legacy comes from.
it’ll all be worth it in the end!
Chapultepec refers to an entire park complex, including a monument for the aforementioned Niños Héroes, a zoo, and much more. That being said, the castle is undoubtedly the high-life highlight. Marvel at the imposing 18th-century architecture on the outside! Afterward, ogle the opulent splendor inside, courtesy of the site’s royal lineage.
Many know about Cinco de Mayo and the French invasion of Mexico in the 1860s. Well as a result of their invasion, Austrian monarch Maximilian I became emperor and took refuge in the palace. Subsequently, he decked out the interior with sophisticated European furniture, and paintings, popular for the fabulously wealthy during those times. The majority of that is what you can see today when you visit.
Not all the lavish details found inside and outside the castle can be wholly attributed to Maximilian I though. Eventually, one of Mexico’s most impactful leaders, Porfirio, Diaz came to power in 1876 and kept up the splendor of the castle. Thus, much of the elegant and exuberant charm on display today is owed back to his time as well, as he called for several additions to the site.
Nevertheless, if rich monarchs aren’t your thing, the site also has amazing views over a bulk of Mexico City! Enjoy that! Leave the bourgeoisie behind! Do it for Trotsky!
Chapultepec Castle is one of the best museums of Mexico City because it represents the diverse history of the nation’s leadership
What to know before Visiting
- Open Tuesday to Sunday from 9 am to 5 pm
- Tickets are 90 Mexican Pesos for all comers
In Conclusion
Mexico City doesn’t usually come to mind first when thinking about top-tier museum destinations but it should! So, honestly, think better! Edit your mind! It’s on you for that! Whoever you are…
Nevertheless, if you want to learn more about Mexico, click below and be on the lookout for more Globe Junking! Or, uh, whatever it is that happens here. Anyways, bye, have a great life! Or don’t. I’m not your damn Mommy!
