Diego Rivera-Anahuacalli Museum

I did not make it to Diego Rivera’s pre-Hispanic art museum Anahuacalli on my first, second, or third trip to Mexico City. Like the Cloisters museum in New York, often passed over by non-medievalists in favor of the better known cousin, the Metropolitan Museum, Anahuacalli’s relatively inconvenient location and decidedly non-contemporary focus mean visitors will not encounter the long lines and crowds common at the Blue House Frida Kahlo Museum.

According to the Anahuacalli website, Rivera’s aim at the Anahuacalli was to create a City of the Arts, where architecture, music, theater, dance and crafts could flourish. This was what Diego had in mind when he designed the museum’s courtyard as an open-space theater, along with a gallery and a place where seminars and workshops could be held. The physical presence of the building is awesome–it rises up like a cross between a fortress and a pyramid–but perhaps because I visited on a weekday afternoon when the courtyard (and museum) were largely empty, I found the museum grounds to be desolate, almost sterile.

Access to the museum’s collections are only allowed via guided tours that begin approximately every hour throughout the day. The tour I attended was in Spanish, and was led by a listless though well-informed young lady who recited a memorized script describing the high lights of each room’s artifacts. Our guide kept a fast pace, despite the fact that there were only six of us on on the tour, which didn’t allow more than a minute or to wander around each room.

When I did stray from the tour guide to explore some of the objects in the room that she wasn’t elaborating on, I became aware that the displays were without the explanatory labels one might expect in a museum with artifacts from dozens of different pre-Hispanic cultures. Apart from the information out guide was providing, without any previous study of pre-Hispanic art, I felt lost in the museum, ignorant of the context and history behind the pieces around me. In that respect, Anahuacalli is not an anthropology museum, but truly an art museum, with pieces left to be approached as works of art, rather than artifacts. Without the opportunity to explore the museum at my own pace, however, it was difficult to carefully examine more than a piece or two in each room.

Several ceilings throughout the museum were designed by Rivera. My favorite is a mosaic picturing two faces framed within a vaguely anatomical heart; a hammer, sickle, and white dove loom above. The view from the top of Anahuacalli is a dramatic end to the tour. On a clear day, you can take in the expanse of the southern part of the city and even see snow-topped Popocatépetl to the southeast.

Unless there are special events or exhibitions going on during your visit, I would recommend Anahuacalli only to those with a great deal of interest in pre-Hispanic art or to the most dedicated Diego Rivera stalkers. For those in search of Frida, you will find none of her art and will be left to guess at her influence on the conception and design of Anahuacalli.

Located in Colonia San Pablo Tepetlapa in the southwestern part of Delegación Coyoacán, Anahuacalli is reachable by taxi (one from central Coyoacán would cost less than 40 pesos) or, for the more public transportation savvy, one of the peseros on Division del Norte.

The cost for entry is 45 pesos, which also includes entry at the Blue House Frida Kahlo museum in Coyoacán within one month of your visit.