Museum of the Mayan Culture

The state capital of Quintana Roo and the youngest of all the capitals in Mexico, Chetumal is a picturesque city which offers a unique contact with nature. Surrounded by protected natural areas, marvelous landscapes, and unusual architecture, this city offers an atmosphere of calm and lavish hospitality. Here you can plan an excursion deep into the jungle, where you can enjoy the intense color of the flora and admire the fauna in its entire splendor. There are also archaeological sites, concealed in thick forests, of outstanding beauty and historical importance.

This city, said to be the foundation of the mixing of the Maya and Spanish cultures, would be rather empty without a center completely dedicated to the Mayan culture. This is a culture that stands out among other pre-Hispanic cultures for its prodigious scientific advances and the enigmatic disappearance of this people from all the principal Maya cities. With the help of modern science, the museum scientists provide a remarkable collection of handicrafts, mock-ups, studies and reproductions of articles from the era. Everything here is planned to help us better understand the wisdom of the Maya. This museum, deemed as the largest and most comprehensive museum in the state, is completely dedicated to the Mayan culture. It features an important collection of authentic works and reproductions of classical works, and tells the development of Mayan culture, its roots, and the several aspects of their daily life.

For those visitors who know much about the amazing Mayan Culture, the Museum of Mayan Culture is the perfect starting point. This is a modern museum that would fit well in any city, as it features interactive exhibits and models of most Yucatan sites decorated around a jungle theme. It is important not to get confused and think this museum is the Chetumal City museum, just a few blocks away on the same street. While the City Museum is interesting, it is rather small and focuses only on Chetumal.

The museum features many models of Mayan Ruins in the Yucatan Peninsula. If you have the chance of visiting these ruins, it is especially interesting. The museum is entirely dedicated to the complex and amazing world of the Mayan civilization. Through the exhibits you can understand Maya social classes, politics, and customs; Maya architecture; their use of plants for medicinal and domestic purposes; and the Maya calendar. One of the most remarkable displays is the three-story Sacred Ceiba Tree. The Maya used this symbol to comprehend as well as to explain the relationship between the cosmos and Earth. The first floor represents the roots of the tree where the Maya underworld, Xibalba, reigns. The middle floor is the tree trunk, known as Earth, or Middle World, home to humans and all their trappings. The top floor is the leaves and branches and the 13 heavens of the cosmic Otherworld.

The Museum of Mayan Culture, which opens Tuesday to Thursdays from 9-7, Fridays and Saturdays from 9-8, and Sundays from 9-2, is a great opportunity to learn more about this fantastic and unique culture and civilization. Don’t miss the chance to visit it on your next trip to Chetumal!

V.T.