Don't miss

Threads

The Sun Stone, Coatlicue, Olmec heads and Pakal's jade mask, around a patio under a giant concrete umbrella. Mexico's great museum, at your own pace.

Wings

• Plaza, vestibule and patio

  Entrance plaza and TlalocVestibuleOrientation HallThe UmbrellaCentral patio

• Archaeology: north wing (halls 1-5)

  1 Introduction to AnthropologyTemporary exhibitions2 Peopling of the Americas3 Preclassic in the Central Highlands4 Teotihuacan5 The Toltecs and the Epiclassic

• The Mexica hall

  6 Mexica

• Archaeology: south wing (halls 7-11)

  7 Cultures of Oaxaca8 Cultures of the Gulf Coast9 Maya10 Cultures of Western Mexico11 Cultures of the North

• Ethnography: north wing (halls 12-13)

  12 Peoples, Languages and Territories13 Food, Production and Consumption

• Ethnography: south wing (halls 14-16)

  14 Identities, Histories and Resistance15 Festivals and Rituals16 Textiles

Threads

• 60 minThe Museo Nacional de Antropología in an HourThe rain god at the door, the Umbrella, Teotihuacan's water goddess, a Toltec warrior column, the Sun Stone, Coatlicue, the eagle on the cactus, the Zapotec bat god, an Olmec head and Pakal's jade mask.10 pieces
• 120 minAround the Patio in Two HoursThe whole archaeology circuit in the museum's own order: from the first people and their mammoths, up the north wing to Teotihuacan and Tula, through the Mexica hall, and back down past Oaxaca, the Olmecs, the Maya, the West and the North.20 pieces
• 55 minRain, Maize and the Farming YearThe thread only this museum can pull: from the rain god at the door and Teotihuacan's water goddess, through the maize god in Pakal's mask, up the stairs to the granaries, grinding stones and embroidered farming calendars of today.8 pieces
• 45 minSmall Things, Close UpA jade axe the length of your hand, a jade bat god, a notched whale rib, a Maya figure in a flower, a skull in a fibre headdress, a dance mask, a clay tree of life and a darned cloth from Yucatán.8 pieces
• 45 minMexico Today, UpstairsThe upper floor is about living peoples: a granary, an embroidered farming year, a Purépecha house, the grinding stone, a tree of life, a yarn painting, a dance mask, a shawl and a backstrap loom.9 pieces

An independent audio guide by Roamer, not affiliated with or endorsed by the Museo Nacional de Antropología. Museum admission is separate.