Museo Miraflores – Guatemala City

Posted on 04/08/2023 by Michael

Museo Miraflores

The Miraflores Museum contains artefacts and finds from the Mayan city of Kaminaljuyu – upon which the modern city of Guatemalan City now stands. Much stands to be discovered at some time in the future.

The modern museum, therefore, sits upon the structures which it seeks to represent inside its walls.

The collection has also been augmented by donations from the Santa Clara Foundation.

How to get there:

Only a few minutes walk from Boulevard Liberación (the PanAmerican Highway), behind the Miraflores shopping mall.

Opening times;

Tuesday to Sunday: 09.00 – 19.00

Entrance:

Q30

Popol Vuh Museum – Guatemala City

Posted on 04/08/2023 by Michael

Popol Vuh Museum

Popol Vuh Museum – Guatemala City

The Popol Vuh Museum is housed in a modern building which is part of the Francisco Marroquín University, in Zone 10 of Guatemala City.

It is one of the finest collections of Mayan art in the world and definitely worth the effort to visit if you are in the city. But not an easy place to get to.

The university promotes neo-liberal/neoconservative thinking but you can ignore that and admire the artefacts on display – and then leave all that crap behind.

How to get there:

There’s no real public transport to the university campus so either a taxi or walking – depending upon from where you might be starting. When entering the university site look for the signs for the ‘Ixchel Museum of Indigenous Textiles and Clothing’. With that museum on your right head for the stairway into the university ahead of you towards your left. Entrance to the museum is on the first floor, up the stairs. Make sure to have a look at some of the sculptures and pottery that are in the public areas, next to lecture rooms, at ground level when you come out.

Entrance;

Q45

There’s an extra charge of Q15 if you want to take pictures – and you get given a permission sticker. Worthwhile paying the extra.

Zaculeu – Guatemala – Museum

Posted on 16/07/2023 by Michael

Zaculeu – Guatemala – Museum

The small museum is inside the entrance of the Zaculeu site.

It doesn’t have a lot of items and doesn’t provide a great deal of information about Zaculeu but some of what’s on show is interesting and is different from what I’ve seen elsewhere. That seems to be a general theme – not only do the various sites have something disctinctive to offer also the finds from these places seem to differ in slight ways as well.

It seems there was a major fire some years ago and some of the exhibits were taken into the town but there is no museum in the town of Huehuetenango itself so not sure where those artefacts might be.

Because the renovation of the structures of Zaculeu were ‘restored’ in the 1940s in such an anodyne manner it was perfect as a film set – for Tarzan of all things. Instead of providing photos of how the site looked BEFORE the ‘restoration’ there is a section taken on the film set – a missed opportunity.

At least in Zacaleu (which is now much more like a Mayan theme park than an archaeological site) there is an acceptance than nothing is wrong with what was done in the 1940s.

I tend to disagree.