"Stay at home, stay at home, stay at home." That is the recommendation of the authorities and the scientific community. For our enormous fortune, confinement touched us with the advantages of Internet connection. So, save lives and Take the word 'boring' out of your vocabulary. We know that each recommendation can overwhelm you, so we give you some useful suggestions to explore what we consider most emblematic of each place. Put on your most comfortable pajamas, prepare your favorite drink and start this journey through the wonders of the web.
Museums
National Museum of Anthropology and History (MNA): Start your tour in one of the most important museums in Latin America, where the heritage of the peoples of Mesoamerica and the ethnic diversity of Mexico rests. It is an icon of 20th century architecture, with 22 rooms and more than 45,000 square meters of construction.
We recommend you: Enter its Archeology section, where you will find the Mexica, Maya or Toltecas collection digitized. There are some 3D pieces that you can see here. We also advise you to see the historical archives of the MNA, such as the transfer of the monolith of Tláloc, god of rain, from San Miguel Coatlinchán, State of Mexico, to the museum.
Museum of Modern Art (MAM): You will find one of the greatest collections of Mexican art of the 20th century: Gerardo Murillo (Dr. Atl), Roberto Montenegro, Diego Rivera, David Alfaro Siqueiros, José Clemente Orozco, Frida Kahlo, Carlos Orozco Romero and Rufino Tamayo ... It also has 38 works by Remedios Varo, national and international photography, sound art, conferences, materials for teachers ... you can explore everything online.
We recommend: These three pieces of Frida Kahlo: The two Fridas, The coconuts, Still life with watermelons. And these of Remedios Varo: Creation of the birds, The Flight, Woman Leaving the Psychoanalyst (It could be Juliana); The Mexico City of O 'Gorman and the work of the Big Three. Find them by clicking here.
National History Museum: here the memory of the history of Mexico is protected, from the conquest of Tenochtitlan to the Revolution. Its rooms display a diversity of objects representative of four centuries of the country's history. Located in the Chapultepec Castle, this enclosure began its construction in 1785 and was a military college, imperial residence with Maximilian and presidential.
We recommend: See in detail the portraits of Carlota Amalia from Belgium and Maximilian from Habsburg; the Plan of Mexico City of 1737, by Pablo Arrieta, one of the best architects of the time; the 18th century Market Stall painting or the famous portrait of Sor Juana Inés de la Cruz from 1750. Find them here.
Diego Rivera Mural Museum: Discover the Dream of a Sunday afternoon in Alameda Central (1947), where Rivera self-portrayed himself as a child around some of the most important characters in the history of Mexico. La Catrina stands out on the arm of José Guadalupe Posada, Frida Kahlo, Hernán Cortés, Sor Juana Inés de la Cruz, Emiliano Zapata, Francisco I. Madero, Maximiliano with the Empress Carlota and, of course, Benito Juárez.
Archaeological sites
Chichén Itzá, a World Heritage Site since 1998. Are you more of the explorer type? We go to the center of the Yucatan Peninsula, to the political, religious and cultural heart of the Mayan empire. Visit the archaeological site surrounded by jungle, discover the Ball Court, the road that leads to the Sacred Cenote, the sculptures of the god Chaac, the reliefs of the House of the Nuns or the heads of the famous feathered Serpent.
We recommend: The tour 'Chichén Itzá, The perpetual invasion', part of the Piedras que Hablan series of the National Institute of Anthropology, through the chronicle of Juan Villoro, guided by archaeologists Rafael Cobos, José Huchim and Luis Alberto Martos. Immerse yourself in the ancestral waters of the great Mayan aquifer and discover the archaeological remains that lie in the bowels of the earth, from the hand of the Mexican archaeologist Guillermo de Anda.
Mitla, World Heritage since 2010. Are you more of the explorer type? We are going to Oaxaca to visit this archaeological site born 18 centuries ago, where the Zapotecs showed their devotion to the dead and had 15,500 inhabitants. It was the last pre-Hispanic center built in the cultural area of the Central Valleys and one of the sites where archeology begins in Mexico, along with Teotihuacan.
We recommend: Exploring the structures and pieces found; also see the photos of the historical archive and the opinion of the expert Nelly M. Robles García, on the architectural ornamentation of its symmetrical and heavy buildings.
Calakmul, World Heritage since 2002. Now we go to one of the largest cities in the Mayan world, located in the second largest nature reserve in America, in Campeche. The archaeological zone extends over 70 square kilometers and contains more than 6,000 structures.
We recommend you: Read the article by Antonio Benavides on flora and fauna in the daily life of the Mayans; know the structures, the pieces and see the documentary of the poet, editor and essayist David Huerta: stone pages.
Templo Mayor, the navel of the universe. It is the most important sacred precinct in Mexico-Tenochtitlan, dedicated to Huitzilopochtli, the solar god of war, and to Tláloc, the god of rain, the heart of the Mexica Empire, who believed that it occupied the center of the universe, therefore, every time who wanted to make it bigger, a new building was built on top of the old one, preserving the same fundamental characteristics, so they built it all over again about 7 times.
We recommend: A guided tour of the vestiges of the ceremonial site with the famous archaeologists Eduardo Matos Moctezuma and Leonardo López Lujan, in charge of the Templo Mayor project. If you are ready to start, click here.
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