Museo Nacional de la Muerte

Mexico's relationship with death is famous and frequently misdescribed; this museum is the best single place to see it laid out. Built on the collection of the artist Octavio Bajonero Gil and opened in 2007 by the state university, the Museo Nacional de la Muerte gathers some two thousand pieces across a former convent's rooms: pre-Hispanic funerary ceramics and skull imagery from the cultures that treated death as a phase rather than an end; colonial-era art in which the Spanish Christian danse macabre meets local practice; and then the great flowering of the modern calavera - Posada's engravings, sugar skulls, papier-mache Catrinas, alebrije-style skeletons, ofrenda installations, toys, masks and contemporary art. The tone is exactly right: not gothic, not ghoulish, but analytic and often funny, showing how a culture domesticated mortality into a joke, a saint's day and a family dinner. Around Day of the Dead the museum builds full ofrendas and runs a busy programme; the rest of the year it is calm and unhurried.

What you actually see

• The pre-Hispanic rooms - funerary ceramics and skull iconography.
• The colonial section - Christian death imagery meeting local tradition.
• The Catrina wall - modern calaveras in clay, paper and paint.
• The ofrendas - full altars, especially in the November season.

When to go

Any day but Monday; late October and early November for the ofrendas and events. An hour or two covers it comfortably.

Honest expectations

Labels run Spanish-first. The subject is handled thoughtfully but includes human remains and imagery some visitors find heavy. It pairs naturally with the Posada museum a few streets away.

Nearby

Museo Posada, the cathedral plaza and the San Marcos garden are all within walking distance.