Over the past couple of days, we have enjoyed multiple museums, some where we just walked in free of charge. We discovered that Mexico City has the second largest number of museums behind London. Today, we went to Bosque de Chapultepec (a beautiful park!) and we visited the Museum of Modern Art, the National Museum of History at Castillo de Chapultepec, and the Museum of Anthropology. We spent 5-6 hours. All are world class museums.
The Museum of Modern Art has a stunning architectural entrance and one of the largest sculpture gardens in the world. We saw art of Frida Kahlo and Diego Rivera, along with many other Mexican artists.
We walked through the park to Castillo de Chapultepec. It is a beautiful castle and grounds on a hill overlooking all of Mexico City, sacred to the Aztecs. Built in the 1700’s as an administrative center, it became the palace of Maximilian I and Empress Carlota during the Second Mexican Empire, 1864-1867. They brought in furnishings typical of their European heritages. After Maximilian’s execution, it was used as a military academy for several years, and in 1882, it was declared the official residence of the president by President Gonzalez, and succeeding presidents lived there until 1934. The castle became the National Museum of History in 1939. Most of the rooms that were the private residence of presidents are furnished as they were when occupied. They are as beautiful as many other royal palaces we’ve toured.
We continued our walk through the park, picking up a snack, then going to the Museum of Anthropology, the largest and most visited museum in Mexico. We entered the visitor center then walked into a courtyard with a large concrete umbrella supported by a carved pillar, with water raining down. The courtyard is surrounded by exhibition halls that spill onto gardens landscaped according to the theme of each exhibition. The exhibitions cover the pre-Colombian civilizations located in the current territory of Mexico and former Mexican territory in what is now southwestern United States. They are classified according to geographic location, from oldest to most recent civilizations, 1000 BC to 1700’s AD. It was fascinating and the architecture and design was outstanding.
Replica of what we saw on the Temple of the Feathered Serpent at Teotihuacan.
Replica of the ancient city located where Mexico City is today.
We had a very late lunch around 4 at Sala Gastronomica, located in the gardens of the Museum of Anthropology. We are enjoying the option to eat anytime, as restaurants in Mexico are open from morning to night, always ready to serve!
