Chapultepec Castle Mexico City

 

Tuesday to Sunday, 9 am. to 5 pm.

It takes at least an hour and a half to see the museum. We recommend you to arrive early. 

 The rooms begin to vacate at 4:45 pm. 

The museum is not open on any Monday of the year.

ADMISSION COSTS

General Admission

      $85.00 Mexican pesos 

On Sundays the entrance is free for all the national public and for foreigners residing in Mexico.  

Due to the restrictions established by the pandemic caused by COVID-19, tickets cannot be purchased in advance, it is necessary to buy them the same day at the box office, located at the beginning of the ramp that goes up to the museum. 

Cash and on Mexican pesos payment only.

Free admission:

      - Children under 13 years old

      - People over 60 years old

      - Teachers and students 

       with valid credentials

      - Pensioners and retirees 

      with credentials

      - People with disabilities

LOCATION MAP

GETTING HERE

Address: Primera Sección del Bosque de Chapultepec s/n

San Miguel Chapultepec, C.P. 11580

Delegación Miguel Hidalgo, Ciudad de México

 

If you use the S. T. C. Metro, the nearest stations are:‌ 

Chapultepec - line 1. This station has direct access to Bosque de Chapultepec.

  Auditorio - line 7. Once you have reached the Auditorium station, you must take the Metrobús line 7 and get off at the Gandhi station. From there you have to walk inside the forest to the ramp that goes up to the museum.

 

 

 

 

Mexico City Bus Tour

 

National Antropoloty Museum Mexico City

 

 

The National Museum of Anthropology (Spanish: Museo Nacional de Antropología, MNA) is a national museum of Mexico. It is the largest and most visited museum in Mexico. Located in the area between Paseo de la Reforma and Mahatma Gandhi Street within Chapultepec Park in Mexico City, the museum contains significant archaeological and anthropological artifacts from Mexico's pre-Columbian heritage, such as the Stone of the Sun (or the Aztec calendar stone) and the Aztec Xochipilli statue.

The museum (along with many other Mexican national and regional museums) is managed by the Instituto Nacional de Antropología e Historia (National Institute of Anthropology and History), or INAH. It was one of several museums opened by Mexican President Adolfo López Mateos in 1964.

Assessments of the museum vary, with one considering it "a national treasure and a symbol of identity. The museum is the synthesis of an ideological, scientific, and political feat."Octavio Paz criticized the museum's making the Mexica (Aztec) hall central, saying the "exaltation and glorification of Mexico-Tenochtitlan transforms the Museum of Anthropology into a temple.

 

Designed in 1964 by Pedro Ramírez Vázquez, Jorge Campuzano, and Rafael Mijares Alcérreca, the monumental building contains exhibition halls surrounding a courtyard with a huge pond and a vast square concrete umbrella supported by a single slender pillar (known as "el paraguas", Spanish for "the umbrella"). The halls are ringed by gardens, many of which contain outdoor exhibits. The museum has 23 rooms for exhibits and covers an area of 79,700 square meters (almost 8 hectares) or 857,890 square feet (almost 20 acres).  

At the end of the 18th century, by order of the viceroy of Bucareli, the items that formed part of the collection by Lorenzo Boturini — including the sculptures of Coatlicue and the Sun Stone — were placed in the Royal and Pontifical University of Mexico, forming the core of the collection that would become the National Museum of Anthropology.

On August 25, 1790, the Cabinet of Curiosities of Mexico (Gabinete de Historia Natural de México) was established by botanist José Longinos Martínez. During the 19th century, the museum was visited by internationally renowned scholars such as Alexander von Humboldt. In 1825, the first Mexican president, Guadalupe Victoria, advised by the historian Lucas Alamán, established the National Mexican Museum as an autonomous institution. In 1865, the Emperor Maximilian moved the museum to Calle de Moneda 13, to the former location of the Casa de Moneda. 

 

The museum's collections include the Stone of the Sun, giant stone heads of the Olmec civilization that were found in the jungles of Tabasco and Veracruz, treasures recovered from the Maya civilization, at the Sacred Cenote at Chichen Itza, a replica of the sarcophagal lid from Pacal's tomb at Palenque and ethnological displays of contemporary rural Mexican life. It also has a model of the location and layout of the former Aztec capital Tenochtitlan, the site of which is now occupied by the central area of modern-day Mexico City.

The permanent exhibitions on the ground floor cover all pre-Columbian civilizations located on the current territory of Mexico as well as in former Mexican territory in what is today the southwestern United States. They are classified as North, West, Maya, Gulf of Mexico, Oaxaca, Mexico, Toltec, and Teotihuacan. The permanent expositions at the first floor show the culture of Native American population of Mexico since the Spanish colonization.

 Source

Wikipedia

Concheros Aztec Dancers in Mexico City and the Dance Meaning

 

 

 

The Concheros dance, also known as the dance of the Chichimecas, Aztecas and Mexicas, is an important traditional dance and ceremony which has been performed in Mexico since early in the colonial period. It presents syncretic features both pre-Hispanic and Christian. The dance has strong visual markers of its pre-Hispanic roots with feathered regalia, indigenous dance steps and indigenous instruments such as drums. However, the name Concheros comes from a type of lute made with an armadillo shell, showing Spanish influence. The dance in its current form was the adaptation of the old “mitote” dance to Catholicism as a means of preserving some aspects of indigenous rite.

 It remained a purely religious ceremony until the mid 20th century when political and social changes in Mexico also gave it cultural significance as a folk dance. Since the later 20th century, a sub group of the dance called Mexicas has emerged with the aim of eliminating the European influence, often with political aims. This form of the dance migrated to the United States in the mid-1970s and can be seen in states such as California in Mexican American communities.

 Although the dance tradition has been known (especially in the U.S.) as "Aztec" or "Mexica," it is neither. The roots of the conchero dances (and thus the roots of the modern "Mexica" dances tradition is deeply rooted in the Chichimeca cultures of the north. 

The Otomi, Jonaz, Chichimeca, Caxcan, and other tribes never conquered by the Mexica, are the true roots of the Danza Conchera. Whereas the Mexi'ca rituals were based on solar concepts and values, the Chichimeca were rooted in selenic and stellar cosmology. Worship and honoring of family and cultural ancestors was a large part of the Chichimeca tradition. That is why today's conchero rituals always start at midnight, and include rituals to call "down" the spirits of the ancestors to bring purity for the following day's battle (dance ritual).

Puebla Mexic

Puebla de Zaragoza (Spanish pronunciation: [ˈpweβla]; Nahuatl languages: Cuetlaxcoapan), formally Heroica Puebla de Zaragoza, formerly Puebla de los Ángeles during colonial times, or known in English simply as Puebla, is the seat of Puebla Municipality. It is the capital and largest city of the state of Puebla, and the fourth largest city in Mexico, after Mexico City, Monterrey, and Guadalajara.^[2][3] A viceregal era planned city, it is located in the southern part of Central Mexico on the main route between Mexico City and Mexico's main Atlantic port, Veracruz—about 100 km (62 mi) east southeast of Mexico City and about 220 km (140 mi) west of Veracruz.^[4]

Puebla Puebla de Zaragoza Puebla de los Ángeles, Cuetlaxcoapan

Government
• Municipal President	Eduardo Rivera Pérez
Area
• Municipality	534.32 km2 (206.30 sq mi)
• Urban	68,987 km2 (269.48 sq mi)
Elevation  (of seat)	2,135 m (7,005 ft)
Population  (2020)
• Municipality	1,692,181
• Metro	3,199,530
Demonym(s)	Poblano, Angelopolitano
Time zone	UTC−6 (CST)
• Summer (DST)	UTC−5 (CDT)
Postal code (of seat)	72000
Area code(s)	222, 221
ISO 3166 code	MX-PUE
GDP	1.527 billion pesos[1]
Website	(in Spanish) Official site

The city was founded in 1531 in an area called Cuetlaxcoapan, which means "where serpents change their skin", between two of the main indigenous settlements at the time, Tlaxcala and Cholula.^[5] This valley was not populated in the 16th century, as in the pre-Hispanic period this area was primarily used for the "flower wars" between a number of populations.^{[6][failed verification][7]} Due to its history and architectural styles ranging from Renaissance to Mexican Baroque, the city was named a World Heritage Site in 1987. The city is also famous for mole poblano, chiles en nogada and Talavera pottery. However, most of its economy is based on industry.^[6]

Being both the fourth largest city in Mexico and the fourth largest Metropolitan area in Mexico, it has a current population of 3,250,000 people, and the city serves as one of the main hubs for eastern Central Mexico. Many students come from all over the country to study in its many renowned and prestigious universities, such as BUAP, UDLAP, Ibero, UPAEP, Tecnológico de Monterrey and Instituto Tecnológico de Puebla, among others. The city also excels in industry, having the world's largest Volkswagen factory outside Germany located in the Municipality of Cuautlancingo and an Audi plant in San José Chiapa that is the most technologically advanced plant in the western hemisphere. As a result, many suppliers to Volkswagen and Audi assembly plants have opened factories in the metropolitan area of Puebla.

The city was founded in 1531 within the Valley of Cuetlaxcoapan as a Spanish city, not on the foundation of an existing indigenous city-state. The official date of foundation is 16 April 1531, however, this first attempt at settlement failed due to constant flooding of the site right next to the river.^[10] Several rivers flow through the Valley of Puebla, the San Francisco, Atoyac and the Alseseca. This valley was bordered by the indigenous city-states turned colonial towns of Cholula, Tlaxcala, Huejotzingo and Tepeaca, all of which had large indigenous populations. After the city's foundation, this valley became the main route between Mexico City and Veracruz, the port on the Caribbean coast and the connection to Spain.

Puebla was an important city and region in the history of New Spain, since it was in the center region of Spanish settlement, midway between the main port and the capital, had a large indigenous population, and drew many Spanish settlers. It supplied the capital with commercially grown agricultural products and became a center of local textile production.^[13] It was well connected to Mexico's North, particularly the silver-mining region around Zacatecas.

Most of the population moved away from the west bank of the San Francisco River to a higher site. A few families remained behind and renamed the original settlement Alto de San Francisco. The Spanish Crown supported the founding of Puebla as a city without encomiendas, as this system was being abused and a number of Spaniards were finding themselves landless. Puebla received its coat-of-arms in 1538, and the titles "Noble y Leal" (Noble and Loyal) in 1558, "Muy Noble y Leal Ciudad" (Very Noble and Loyal City) in 1561 and "Muy Noble y Muy Leal Ciudad" (Very Noble and Very Loyal City) in 1576.

Aztec Dance

The Aztec Dance is meditation in motion. It brings the dancers into a meditative state, with the repetitive rhythm and movement, channeling energy to the gods. This dance represents the connection between man and god, of body and soul. It is a form of prayer and communication.

The ritual dance was first performed on June 25, 1531, on the Cerro de Sangremal in the state of Querétaro, Mexico, said Iztli. Today, people call the tradition Conquest dance, Aztec dance or Chichimec dance, and the dancers Concheros. An Aztec dance song has different movements, which dancers classify by names.

The importance of dancing during Día de los Muertos is to pay homage to our ancestors. We dance to bring their spirits back to honor their lives. Dancing is the happiness and the gifts that we share and celebrate those who have passed on.

The Aztec Dance has been referred to as a form of prayer and a total way of life and communication. It is one of the few native dance rituals that permits the participation of women.