M

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- 2011. Archaeology and Indigenous peoples: a maturing

relationship? Annual Reviews of Anthropology 40:
363-378.
- (ed.) 1999a. Time and archaeology. London: Routledge.
- 1999b. Encyclopedia of archaeology: the great archaeologists. Santa Barbara: ABC-CLIO Press.
MURRAY, T. & A. MAYNE. 2001. Imaginary landscapes:
reading Melbournes Little Lon, in A. Mayne &
T. Murray (ed.) The archaeology of urban landscapes:
explorations in slumland: 89-105. Cambridge:
Cambridge University Press.
MURRAY, T. & J. P. WHITE. 1981. Cambridge in the bush?
Archaeology in Australia and New Guinea. World
Archaeology 13: 255-263.

Further Reading
MURRAY, T. (ed.) 2001. Encyclopedia of archaeology:
history and discoveries. Santa Barbara: ABC-CLIO
Press.

Museo Nacional de Antropologa,

Mexico
Isabel Medina-Gonzalez
Escuela Nacional de Conservacion, Restauracion
y Museografa, Instituto Nacional de
Antropologa e Historia (INAH), Mexico, DF,
Mexico

Brief Definition of the Topic

The Museo Nacional de Antropologa (The
National Museum of Anthropology), hereafter
MNA, is the oldest, largest, and most famous
anthropological museum in Latin America.
Located in Chapultepec Park in Mexico City,
the MNA focuses on displaying the cultural
diversity and development of native societies of
Mesoamerica through an exhibition that begins
by explaining the meaning and practice of
Anthropology. It then addresses the origins of
the American indigenous peoples (including the
theories of Paleo-Indian migration and settlement
in the Americas) and goes on to explain in a rather
monographic fashion, the characteristics and
achievements of the principal pre-Columbian
ancient civilizations from the pre-Classic,

Museo Nacional de Antropologa, Mexico

Classic, and post-Classic periods (i.e., Olmec,

Teotihuacan, Toltec, Mexica-Aztec, Maya, Mixtec-Zapotec, and Occident and Northern cultures). The exhibition culminates in an
ethnographic exhibition on various indigenous
communities currently living in Mexico. This
perspective, broad in both time and space, represents the core spirit of the Latin American School
of Anthropology to study and disseminate American indigenous cultures, which is also articulated
in the museological and architectural rationale of
the MNA, as well as in its research, dissemination, and educational activities.
History
The genesis of the MNAs archaeological collection can be traced back to the scientific cabinets
of collections accumulated in New Spain and,
in particular, to the late-eighteenth-century
collection preserved at the Real y Pontificia
Universidad de Mexico (15511865), an early
academic and higher-educational institution,
where inspired by a Creole nationalistic
ideology the first Museo Nacional Mexicano
(Mexican National Museum, MNM) was officially founded by the government of the newly
independent Mexican Republic in 1825 (Morales
Moreno 1994: 164, 172). Although Mexican
archaeology was a subject of burgeoning interest
for both local and foreign scholars during the first
half of the nineteenth century, local political
instability surely limited the academic and curatorial development of the MNM until 1865, when
it was relocated to the former Casa de Moneda,
a northern annex of the Palacio Nacional (Solis
2001: 34).
The following three decades saw the consolidation of the MNM with the opening of a series of
themed galleries, like the famous Galeria de
Monolitos, displaying documents, natural history
specimens, antiquities, and historical artifacts;
the establishment of a library devoted to both
public instruction and scholarly research; the
publication of scholarly journals (Anales del
Museo y Revista Cientfica Mexicana); and the
launching of a series of courses and academic
events on national history, archaeology,

Museo Nacional de Antropologa, Mexico

ethnology, and indigenous languages that can be

considered the disciplinary origins of anthropology in Latin America (Morales-Moreno 1994:
238304).
With the departure of the natural history collections to the Museo del Chopo in 1906, the
MNM reformulated its reason detre according
to its newly acquired name: Museo Nacional de
Arqueologa, Historia y Etnografa (the National
Museum of Archaeology, History and Ethnography, hereafter MNAHE), a process that initiated
a flourishing era with growing responsibilities.
Apart from the accession of a large number of
antique sculptures and artifacts from all over the
country acquired from private collections and
field expeditions organized, authorized, or
supported by the museum itself, aid from the
federal government enabled the renovation of
the exhibition galleries that became not only the
depositary of national treasures but also the
showcases for the visualization of an imaginary
golden pre-Columbian time that provided ideological foundations for the Porfiriato regime from
a scholarly perspective (Morales-Moreno 1994:
30583).
By 1910, the narrative of this political agenda
that reconciled patriotic visions of ancient and
modern Mexico was articulated by the museum
hosting the celebrations of the 100th anniversary
of the Independence of Mexico. Then the
MNAHE also evolved into a complex multifaceted institution that consisted of departments of
archaeology, anthropology, history, ethnography,
anthropometry, industrial art, conservation of
archaeological and historical monuments, publications, and education. Furthermore, within the
framework of the XVI International Congress of
Americanists, American Anthropology experienced a key event in its professional evolution
with the founding of the International School of
Archaeology and Ethnology within the MNAHE,
the predecessor of the ENAH-INAH (Rutsch
2007).
Although, the Mexican Revolution brought
about the interruption of the museums activities
for period of time, post-revolutionary governments later ensured that the MNAHE maintained

5105

its long-standing position as the national institute par excellence, that unlike any other,
reflected the very patriotic essence of Mexico
(Castillo Ledon 1924, in Morales Moreno 1994).
Further acknowledgment of the museums educational role was confirmed by its incorporation
into the Secretara de Educacion Publica (the
Public Education Ministry) in 1921. During the
1930s, ethnographic research by the MNAHE
was central to the articulation of an indigenous
policy articulated by the regime of President
Cardenas as well as to the development of
avant-garde anthropological studies, congresses,
and exhibitions (Solis 2001: 35).
After the establishment of Instituto Nacional
de Antropologa e Historia (the National Institute
of Anthropology and History) in 1939 and the
foundation of the Museo Nacional de Historia
(the National Museum of History) in 1944, the
MNAHE underwent its last organizational transformation becoming the Museo Nacional de
Antropologa (MNA), a museological, research,
and scholarly institution with a solid and growing
international reputation.
In 1964, with the full support of President

Lopez Mateos, a new building for the MNA was

inaugurated at Chapultepec Park. Its architectural
design, by Pedro Ramrez Vazquez (2008),
represented a revolutionary concept, with a total
area of 70,000 m2 with 30,000 m2 for galleries
and open spaces for exhibition purposes and
15,000 m2 for collection deposits, curatorial,
research, and service sectors.
Today
The MNA, a major touristic and educational
landmark in Mexico, is an icon of Mexican
museography worldwide. Its galleries are organized around an open central patio, decorated
with the famous parasol a monumental roofed
pillar with engraved decoration inspired by preColombian figures and an internal garden water
mirror, which provides independent access to
exhibitions and thus free visitor movement and
permits the integration of the museum with
Chapultepec Park. Specifically designed decorative architectural elements and a series of

5106

Museo Nacional de Arqueologa, Antropologa e Historia del Peru

commissioned works of art by famous modern

Mexican artists (Rufino Tamayo, Carlos Merica,
Rina Lazo, Mathias Goeritz) complement the
exhibition setting, which includes replicas of
pre-Columbian buildings and life-like reconstructions of some aspects of indigenous cultures
(Ramrez Vazquez 2008).
The MNA houses the National Anthropological Library, which holds the most important and
largest collection of pre-Columbian codices in
the world. It additionally, has three large auditoriums for academic events; galleries for temporary exhibitions, recently presenting displays on
ancient world civilizations; open spaces, used for
academic and more recently political ceremonies; administrative, research, and laboratory
areas; offices for educational services and guided
tours; parking lots; shops; a restaurant; and
a cloakroom.
The order of the archaeological galleries,
defined by a cultural-historical theoretical
approach, as well as the prominent position of
the Aztec culture in the arrangement, has been
subject to several critiques, including one by
Octavio Paz (1970: 27981), who exposed the
political agenda implicit in the representation of
Mesoamerican cultures, stating that the MNA is
a architecturally crafted myth that represented the
currency of an ideological nationalistic model
based on the political domination of the central
Mexican political aristocracy and thus questioned
the idea that Mexicans are still articulating its
patriotic archetype on the basis of admiring preColumbian ruins. Further criticism regarding the
political bias that uncovers the ethnographic displays has also been addressed (i.e., Carillo Sierra
1994: 48).
Since its inauguration, the MNA has undergone few changes in its original architecture and
museography, although from 1998 to 2004, some
galleries, including the Temporary Exhibition
sector, were renovated as part of a major
restructuring plan. This work was concluded
before 2005, when the museum celebrated its
80th anniversary (Ramrez Vazquez 2008).
The MNA is one of the national museums
under the domain of the INAH.

Cross-References
Colonial Expansion, Invasion, and NationState Building: Influences on Archaeology
Heritage Museums and the Public
Museums and the Distortion of Archaeology
for Political Purposes
Nationalism and Archaeology
North America (USA and Canada): Museums

References
CARILLO-SIERRA, D. 1994. Cien anos de Etnografa en el
Museo. Mexico: INAH.
MORALES-MORENO, L. 1994. Ancestros y Ciudadanos: El
Museo Nacional de Mexico 17901925. Unpublished
PhD dissertation, Universidad Iberoamericana.
PAZ, O. 1970. Postda, Mexico: Siglo XXI.
RAMIREZ VAZQUEZ, P. 2008. Museo Nacional de
Antropologa: gestion, proyecto y construccion,
Mexico: INAH.
RUTSCH, M. 2007. Entre campo el gabinete Nacionales y
extranjeros en la profesionalizacion de la
antropologia Mexicana (18771920). Mexico:
INAH/IIA-UNAM.
SOLIS, F. 2001. El Museo Nacional de Antropologa y su
Historia. Alquimia 4: 12: 3841.

Further Reading
MUSEO NACIONAL DE ANTROPOLOGIA, MEXICO. n.d. Available at: http://www.mna.inah.gob.mx/.

Museo Nacional de Arqueologa,

Antropologa e Historia del Peru
Carmen Arellano Hoffmann
Museo Nacional de Arqueologa, Antropologa
e Historia del Peru, Ministry of Culture,
Lima, Peru

Basic Information
Founded in 1822, the National Museum as it
was formerly known is Perus oldest
state museum. With more than 23,000 m2,

Museo Nacional de Arqueologa, Antropologa e Historia del Peru

30 exhibition galleries, 100 employees, and

about 250,000 objects, it is also the largest and
most prestigious of the country. Originally
created as a History, Archaeology, Ethnology,
and Natural History Museum, it was in the first
half of the twentieth century that it split into an
Archaeology-Anthropological Museum and a
History Museum, although sharing a common
building since 1924. The Natural History section
was also separately refounded in another
museum and building. In 1992, the Museum
was reunited but keeping the official names
while it was divided into National Museum
of Archaeology, Anthropology, and History
of Peru.
Its importance lies in the vast and diverse
holdings, which are more than 250,000 items of
invaluable ceramics, textiles, lithic, metals,
organic, human and animal remains, Colonial
and Republican paintings, and other artwork, dating from the beginning of Andean culture
c. 5,000 BCE. to the present. The archaeological
collections are world renowned because most of
them have archaeological context and are well
documented. The museum houses a historical
archive as well as a photographic archive and
library that are accessible to researchers and
students.
Its permanent exhibition halls display its
achievements, which is the Peruvian civilization
development in a chronological sequence spanning from the first settlers to the Republican
period. Signature objects are the Raimondi stela,
the largest known Nasca drum (almost 1 m high),
and a large-scale model of Machu Picchu with
buttons that allows visitors to identify key sectors
of the complex.
The building itself is also attractive for its
architecture and interior gardens. Built by
renowned Portuguese architect Raul Maria
Pereira, it was the first design for a museum in
Peru. The building was constructed around
a Colonial house that dates probably to the seventeenth century. The Spanish Viceroy Jose de la
Pezuela bought the house in late eighteenth century as his summer residence. During the Independence, the Libertadores Jose de San Martin

5107

and Simon Bolivar lived here. Hence, the house is

known today as the Quinta of the Libertadores. It
shows the former inhabited spaces of Don Jose de
San Martin and Don Simon Bolivar.
The National Museum is located in Pueblo
Libre, a district about 3 km from downtown
Lima.

Major Impact
The Museum is paramount to the history of Peru.
After more than 180 years, the National
Museum has played a main role in defining
Peruvian history and identity. From its beginning, the directors strived to study and reconstruct the past events of Peruvian history, since
nothing beyond the Inca period was known. The
museums first collections gathered in the nineteenth century were lost to Chile during the
Pacific War (18791884). Besides the Colonial
paintings and other historical objects that were
timely put in safety hands, the only archaeological item recovered was symbolically the
Raimondi stela, which depicts the ancient
Andean Wiracocha deity dated c. 1000 BCE.
This deity accompanied the cultural development of Peru until the Inca period. It is
a famous stone carving of the Chavin culture
found by the Italian explorer Antonio Raimondi
in 1861. From 1906 onward, the new museums
directors started a series of field researches in
Archaeology and Ethnology, collecting material
that was the foundation for the reconstruction of
Peruvian past as it is known today. Especially
the study of the pre-Hispanic History based
on extensively archaeological excavations was
the main focus of the National Museum. This
task is nowadays no more performed, and the
museum activities are those dedicated to
exhibits, education, and other outreach cultural
activities.
The museums collections are formed not
only by whole pieces but also include over
10,000 boxes with archaeological remains
product of several excavations campaigns.
A research material that is invaluable for

5108

scientific study. Along with the material, the

archive holds archaeological field notes, photographs, drawings, and other documentation.

Cross-References
Andes: Prehistoric Art
Andes: Prehistoric Period
Archaeology and Anthropology
Bonavia, Duccio
Chronological Systems, Establishment of
Colonial Encounters, Archaeology of
Colonial Expansion, Invasion, and NationState Building: Influences on Archaeology
Flannery, Kent Vaughn
Hispanic South America: Historical
Archaeology
Inca State and Empire Formation
Lumbreras, Luis Guillermo
Marcus, Joyce
Vandalism and Looting (Ethics)
Uhle, Friedrich Max
Vicus

Further Reading
ANONIMO. 1906. Museo de Historia Nacional. Lima:
Imprenta La Industria.
ANONIMO. 1992. MNAA. Museo Nacional de Arqueologa
y Antropologa. Gua Oficial. Lima.
COLOMA PORCARI, C. 1990. El virrey Pezuela y su palacio
de la Magdalena: documentos ineditos (1818-1925).
Historia y Cultura 19: 9-84.
ARELLANO HOFFMANN, C. 2008. Museo Nacional de
Arqueologa, Antropologa e Historia del Peru, in
Pueblo Libre. Historia, cultura y tradicion: 78-95.
Lima: Municipalidad Distrital de Pueblo Libre,
Universidad Alas Peruanas.
- 2010. Gestion, desarrollo y proyeccion de museos del INC.
El ejemplo del Museo Nacional de Arqueologa,
Antropologa e Historia del Peru (MNAAHP), in A.
Castelli (ed.) Gestion de Patrimonio, Museos y Trafico
Ilcito de Bienes Culturales (Ayacucho, 25-27 de mayo
de 2009): 35-53. Lima: OEI y AECID.
- 2012. Peru: El Museo Nacional de Arqueologa,
Antropologa e Historia como espejo de la historia
y sociedad peruana. Revista Museos 30: 25-33.
TELLO, J.C. & T. MEJIA XESSPE. 1967. Historia de los
museos
nacionales
del
Peru,
1822-1946.
Arqueologicas 10: 1-259.

Museo Nacional de los Ferrocarriles Mexicanos

Museo Nacional de los Ferrocarriles

Mexicanos
R. B. Brown
Museo de la Revolucion en la Frontera, Centro
INAH Chihuahua, Chihuahua, Mexico

Basic Information
Founded in conjunction with the reprivatization
of the Mexican railway system in 1988, the
Museo Nacional de los Ferrocarriles Mexicanos
(MNFM) is located in two old railway stations:
Ferrocarril Mexicano and the Mexicano del Sur
in Puebla, Puebla. Public access is through Calle
11 Norte, 1005, Centro Historico. President
Benito Juarez inaugurated the Ferrocarril
Mexicano in 1869. The outdoor exhibit covers
the grounds and marshaling yards of both stations
and is composed of an extensive collection of
rolling stock from the late nineteenth to the
mid-twentieth century. The collection includes
a wide range of engines (locomotives); carriages
(coaches); brake vans (cabooses); flat wagons
(flatcars), covered goods wagons (boxcars); and
dedicated and specialized wagons such as cranes
and so forth.
The MNFM includes the Centro de
Documentacion e Investigacion Ferroviarias
(Cedif) which houses an extensive collection of
original documents, plans, and photos as well as
a full research library. As of January 2012, the
MNFM is open to the public. For further information, consult http://www.museoferrocarriles.
org.mx.

Major Impact
The indoor exhibit relies on graphics and railway paraphernalia to portray the economic and
political importance of the Mexican railway system. From its humble beginnings in 1837, the
railway played a crucial role in the economic