A must-see for your next Royal Resorts vacation! Visit the new Cancún Maya Museum in the forest in front of The Royal Mayan, next to the newly restored archaeological site of San Miguelito.
The latest in the national network of museums operated by the Mexican Institute of Anthropology & History (INAH), the Museo Maya de Cancún was designed by leading Mexican architect, Alberto García Lascurain and has more than 1,350 square meters of exhibition space divided into three galleries. One of the galleries showcases the many archaeological sites in Quintana Roo and some of the most important artifacts unearthed during excavations, including ceramics, stone and jade carvings from the pre-Classic, Classic and post-Classic periods of Mayan history, items dating from the Colonial period and the 19th century Caste War. The first exhibition is on the earliest inhabitants of the Yucatán Peninsula, thousands of years before the Maya and features a 14,000-year-old human skeleton found in a flooded cave in the Tulum area. This find and others like it are offering a glimpse of what life must have been like in prehistoric times and are causing experts to rethink their ideas on how the Americas were first settled.
The second gallery is dedicated to the Maya culture and archaeological sites throughout the Maya World, making it an invaluable introduction to this fascinating civilization for visitors. The third hall will host seasonal exhibitions.
The new facility cost a little over $170 million pesos to build and was funded by INAH and the Quintana Roo State Government.
The museum is open from 10 a.m. to 7 p.m., closed on Monday. Admission is currently $58 pesos per person and includes entry to the San Miguelito archaeological site.
In other museum news, the Cancún Underwater Sculpture Museum continues to expand this year. Many more statues by Jason DeCaires Taylor were submerged in 2012, including that of a Mexican icon, the VW beetle. Snorkeling and dive trips to visit this incredible underwater art gallery can be arranged through Thomas More Travel.
Construction is underway on a Planetarium in Downtown Cancún behind the Casa de la Cultura in Supermanzana 21. When finished later this year, the complex will also house an observatory, water museum, eco gardening techniques exhibition and a botanical garden.
