Museo Anahuacalli

Diego Rivera spent his mural fees on pre-Hispanic art - some 50,000 pieces by the end - and then designed his own temple to hold them. Anahuacalli, "house surrounded by water," rises from the Pedregal lava field as a stepped pyramid of black volcanic rock, part Teotihuacan, part art deco, entirely Rivera. Inside, dim basalt corridors open into chambers where Olmec heads, Colima dogs, dancing Nayarit figures and Teotihuacan masks sit in niches lit like relics, while mosaic ceilings by Rivera and O'Gorman writhe with serpents overhead. The rooftop terrace looks across the lava-country south of the city that Rivera loved. Upstairs, his studio holds sketches for unfinished murals. Around Day of the Dead the museum builds one of the city's grandest ofrendas to Rivera himself, and the surrounding ecological reserve of cactus and lava adds a strange, beautiful frame.

History

After painting his mural Pan American Unity in San Francisco in 1940, Diego Rivera returned to Mexico in 1941 and began planning a museum and "city of the arts" on land he had bought in the Pedregal de San Ángel, spending much of his earnings on it. The museum opened to the public on 18 September 1964 with a selection of 2,000 pieces on display (Wikipedia, Anahuacalli Museum).

Highlights

• The temple itself - Rivera's black-stone pyramid fusing pre-Hispanic and modernist design.
• The collection - thousands of Olmec, Colima, Nayarit and Teotihuacan pieces in lit niches.
• The mosaic ceilings - serpents and rain gods in volcanic stone overhead.
• The rooftop terrace - views over the Pedregal lava field.

When to go

Late October to early November for the monumental Day of the Dead ofrenda; otherwise any dry-season morning. The stone interior stays cool year-round.

Before you go

It is a fifteen-minute ride from central Coyoacan - factor the detour. Interiors are deliberately dark, which is atmospheric but hard on photography. Labels are sparser than at the Anthropology museum; this is a temple more than a textbook.

Nearby

The Frida Kahlo museum shares a combined ticket, and Coyoacan's plazas are a short ride north.

Key facts