World Famous Museum - open in 1964! The biggest highlight is the 24-ton Sun Stone (aka. Aztec Calendar) carved around 1479 AD. This museum houses the largest collection of Mexican artifacts in the world. Unfortunately, everything was in Spanish (but I shouldn't be upset, the US museums - everything is in English). This is the Museum's website .Many anthropological, ethnological, and archaeological materials in the collection date from the pre-Hispanic period. Exhibited on two large floors, these displays show ancient human remains and art objects; figures and pottery of the Pre-Classical Period that began about 5000 bc; and frescoes and statuary of the Classical Period (about 200 bc to ad 900). The Post-Classical Period that began with the arrival of the Spanish conquistadors (1519–1522) is represented by fine ceremonial dishes, ornaments, and giant votive tablets.The museum was packed with people from around the world. If you don't speak spanish, one can hire a tour guide in your language. I swear I saw a Mexican speaking Japanese to a group of visitors.
The museum was founded in 1825 and acquired its present name in 1939. In 1964 it opened in a modern new building that contained a school, a library of some 300,000 volumes, a film archive, and public auditoriums. Among its outstanding exhibits are the “Group of Figures” from the Olmec culture and the 22-ton Aztec “Sun Stone,” representing the history of the world. Link
Anthropology and Archaeology students from all universities around the globe would visit this World Class Museum.
The famous Sun Stone - close up and personal:
The 12-foot, 25-ton intricately carved basalt slab describing Aztec life is one of Mexico's most famous symbols. The stone was carved in the late 1400s; it was discovered buried beneath the Zócalo in 1790. It was originally thought to be a calendar, and for a brief time, a sacrificial altar.To learn more about the Aztec Calendar, Sun Stone, click here .
In the stone's center is the sun god Tonatiuh. The rest of the carvings illustrate Aztec cosmology — the Aztecs believed that prior to their existence, the world had gone through four periods ("suns") of creation and destruction. Four square panels surrounding the center image represent these four worlds and their destruction (by jaguars, wind, firestorms, and water, respectively). The ring around the panels is filled with symbols representing the 20 days of the Aztec month. Finally, two snakes form an outer ring and point to a date, 1011 AD, when the fifth sun (the Aztecs' current world) was created. Link
