5 museums that are a must, when visiting Mexico City

The cultural offer in the city of Mexico is vast, and although there are many places you SHOULD see when visiting, the museums are worth mentioning. I would like to recommend 5 of them, that although in the opinion of others they may not be the best, they do stand out for being very interesting and accessible to the public. Some of the ones listed here have their own article on the site page, however more extensive:


The National Museum of Anthropology .- One of the most visited and admired museums in the country, to the extent that foreign dignitaries have been invited to it on numerous occasions. It consists of 24 rooms (both holding permanent and temporary exhibitions). It was open in September 1964 and its goal is to bring the public closer to the archaeology of the cultures of Mexico such as Teotihuacan, Mexicas, and more. It also teaches several courses both for specialists and for the general public. If you have already seen it, it is worth going at least to the temporary exhibitions.


The Ancient School of San Ildefonso .- Falls into the category of museums that displays exclusively temporary exhibitions. Themes range from the fine arts like painting or sculpture to matters related to archaeology, or social photography. Therefore collections from other countries (such as the Tibet and Mesopotamia) have been in San Ildefonso. The building is also worth admiring as it is a construction from the eighteenth century. The Ancient School of San Ildefonso is located in the Historic Center of Mexico City and offers guided tours.


The National Museum of San Carlos .- Its collection includes European art ranging from the fourteenth to the twentieth century. Regarding artistic periods it ranges from Gothic to Realism, through the Baroque, Mannerism and Impressionism, BUT focused mainly on paintings. The collection was made from works owned by the Noble Arts Academy of San Carlos and has grown thanks to the support of donors. It also provides leased space for events such as book presentations and tours.


Soumaya Museum of Plaza Carso .- Created with the sponsorship of Carlos Slim is the newest museum in the city. Admission is free. It has an amazing collection of original pieces from the times of the Viceroyalty to date. In the same way, the visitor will find everything from coins to paintings, sculptures, fabulous screens, and more. The museum tries to make people understand the aesthetics of various periods of time and, in addition to its collection, it offers lectures, publications and presentations, not to mention that it is also very popular for elementary and middle schools fieldtrips.
Photo: Vladimix


The National Museum of Cultures .- Features several theme rooms organized by the cultures of the regions in the world. Here we see models, sculptures, armors, maps, costumes, vast information and more about cultures such as the one in Mesopotamia, China, Egypt and other classic to exotic regions such as Micronesia. The idea of the museum is to promote respect amongst the different ways of thinking (in addition to get the public to know the origins) from other parts of the world.


Finally, we must say that some of these museums participate in the Cultural Program "The Night of Museums", in which the last Wednesday of each month the museums offer guided tours at night (from 7 pm to 10 pm),
that of course, are worth visiting!



Article produced by the Editorial Team of "Explorando Mexico".
Copyright Explorando México, All rights reserved.
Photo: Travis S.