Tag: Museum

The National Museum of Anthropology – Mexico City, Mexico

When people think of Mexico City, they often think of the great food that is available there, and then they think about the various civilizations that span centuries and makes this one of the most in interesting cultures that the world has to offer. There are ruins both inside and outside of the city that offer a glimpse at these civilizations, but the country was smart enough to gather the most important antiquities and put them together in a museum that allows people to explore these cultures and learn a little about what mankind knows about them. This place is found on the edges of North America’s largest park, Chapultepec Park, and is open six days a week from 9AM to 5PM called the National Museum of Anthropology.

To start off with, this museum is huge and holds a massive collection of mesoamerican pieces that cover cultures from the Mayans to the Aztecs to the Teotihuacans and many more. It is not as large as the British Museum but all of the pieces on display here actually come from the region that the museum is in, and does not take the treasures from other parts of the world to put on display. Though not as big as the British Museum, it would still take more than a day to cover all that this place has to offer. You could probably do it if you wanted to, but you would be exhausted afterwards and everything would blend together in the end, not allowing you to get anything out of the experience that you could if you just took your time instead.

I would recommend just picking and choosing what you want to look at instead of trying to take it all in. The museum is laid-out exceptionally well which makes finding what you are looking for easy. The civilizations are divided up into separate rooms with the main descriptions of what you are seeing written out in both Spanish and English. Unfortunately, when it gets to the more singular piece details, they are usually written in Spanish, so you better brush up on that language if you want to know all the in-and-outs of what you are seeing. But still, there is plenty enough English if you do not know Spanish that you will be satisfied with the knowledge that you will gain visiting here.

I spent most of my three hours in the museum in the rooms about the Aztecs and the Mayans. It is impressive the amount of pieces that were spared from the Spanish colonial period as they went through destroying much of what they had to offer the world considering it blasphemous to their religion and thinking. I am also amazed at how much can be learned about the culture by looking at these pieces because, especially with the Aztecs, much of it was lost due to the conquistadors and priests that came over from Europe. They had spent a lot of the time destroying the stone statues believing that they were blasphemous towards the Catholic religion. I am grateful that there was such a vast collection out there that I was still able to view so much of it, but it also makes me wonder what treasures were lost.

If I have any complaint about this museum, it is a minor one and it is more of a reflection of who I am rather than what this museum has to offer, and that is with the gift shop. Most of the time, I believe gift shops to be a waste of time filled with a bunch of silly trinkets that don’t really mean anything, and this museum keeps up with that tradition, but I still go and visit them anyway to see if I could find a book that would help me learn more about what I just saw. I have found some really good books all around the world that have helped me dig deeper into the cultures I am exploring, and there were some books that looked really good in this museum’s gift shop, except they were all in Spanish. My Spanish is not strong enough yet to be able to read these more complex texts, so I wish that they supplied some books in English so I could have known more about the Aztecs and the Mayans. Still, I should be able to find this information elsewhere, and like I said, it is a small complaint about an otherwise wonderful experience.

Even though it might not be on your radar if you are visiting Mexico City, it is a place that you should consider adding to your itinerary. It is something that is truly a part of the area, and explores its long history. The National Museum of Anthropology is easily one of the best museums I have ever been to, and worth the visit.

The Return

When the final scallop has been eaten
And I’ve mopped up the spicy sauce with bread;
When the volcano top has been beaten,
Just so I could disprove what you had said;
After the kayak has been put to shore
From skimming out to a calving glacier;
After we have visited the gift store
We are forced to see on a museum tour;
When the mementoes are in the cases
That we have purchased without much thinking;
When we have gotten rid of all traces
In hotels where our butts had been sinking;
With the memories of this holiday,
We can return to our regular fray.

The Museo of Pablo Fierro – Puerto Varas, Chile

In a small vacation resort town among the volcanoes of Chile right next to the lake district, and wine country, the architecture reminds one of a small German town in the Black Forest. Among these beautiful buildings, there is one that sticks out more than all of the others, and draws visitors to it. The building is hard to miss. People will take a stroll along the beachfront and come across this building, and wonder what it is they are looking at. It is the strange museum of one of Chile’s most known artists, Pablo Fierro, and it is the main attraction in the small town of Puerto Varas.

What exactly in the Museo Pablo Fierro? Well, that is hard to describe, and the pictures do not do it justice either. It is definitely something that people need to experience. Basically it is the studio of Pablo Fierro and he opens it up to the public from 9:30 to 1, and 3 to 8 everyday but Sunday. You can wander around the place, look at the art, and interact with the way he has put together the house.

The museum reminds me of Meow Wolf, and could easily have been the inspiration for it considering that it predates that museum by almost twenty years. There are random things that are place all over the house, and at times you will find yourself in an old boat, a cuckoo clock or school bus. Everything is interactive, and there is a lot of strange things placed in weird location, but there also seems to be some kind of logic concerning how things are palced.

The surprises are endless and you do have to play around with what you see because sometimes what you think is a wardrobe turns into an entrance to another room, or a door will open to a beautiful sight that you had not expected.

My favorites were what I called the ghosts that we hanging out in various places in the house. They were men that were put together in an origami fashion from large pieces of cardboard. They looked a little out of place, especially with the first one that I found, but in an odd way, they also looked like they belonged to this living museum.

And that is the best way to describe what Pablo Fierro has and continues to create. It is a living piece of art that grows and builds upon itself based on the whim of its creator. It is a work that you have to walk through in order to experience it the way that it is meant to, and it is impossible to walk away from when you first come across it. The museum is the must see sight in Puerto Varas, and I think that goes for every time you come here because you do not know how it will evolve the next time you come out this way.

Until next time, look for those crazy places in the towns you visit. That weird location may be the best thing you see on your travels.

The Mummy

After looking into those closed eyelids
That hold the memories of history,
I think of the secrets that they once hid,
And how they have endured the trickery
That took them out of their burial place
And encased them within this modern tomb.
Visitors forever stare in his face,
Wondering what lesson there are to learn
From his wrapped body and leathery skin;
The curled lips always showing his smile
Of battles he lost and lands he did win.
At one time, he was the king of the Nile;
Now, he lies in a glass sarcophagus
To put on a show for the rest of us.