Zacatecas Museums

Museums

Mexicans and foreign visitors are attracted to Zacatecas cultural scene. The student will be able to visit the museums in Zacatecas and vicinity. To increase student's understanding, appreciation, and enjoyment of the museum visit, Fenix Language Institute offers special lectures about the museums before each visit.

The Museum of the Mexican Revolution is located at the top of the Cerro de la Bufa (The Bufa Hill), which is one of the main symbols of the city. Many photos, diagrams, artifacts and other documents from that time are exhibited in this very interesting place.

This museum houses part of the first library in Zacatecas, which had more than 20,000 volumes, as well as the personal collection of contemporary art owned by the Zacatecan painter, Pedro Coronel. This collection also houses paintings from more than forty internationally known painters such as Picasso and Dali, as well as pieces from Pre-Hispanic cultures, and Chinese, Arab, and Japanese art. In addition to these works, there are two other collections, one of coins and another of Pre-Hispanic pipes, donated by well known figures from the state of Zacatecas.

This museum houses three collections donated by the Zacatecan painter Rafael Coronel: a collection of more than 3000 masks gathered by the painter from different parts of Mexico; a collection of Pre-Hispanic pots from the cultures of central Mexico, and the last of the puppets from the Rosete Aranda company. There is also a collection of architectural sketches by the painter Diego Rivera, donated to the museum by his daughter, Ruth Rivera.

The Francisco Goitia Museum was built in 1948 for the governor´s residence. Today it houses works (paintings and sculptures) by Francisco Goitia, Pedro Coronel, Rafael Coronel and other artists.

 

Located in a section of a building constructed in the nineteenth century as a seminary and that eventually was used as a jail until 1995, the museum was established thanks to the generous donations of Zacatecano artist Manuel Felguerez. Felguerez donated his works that are exhibited in the museum which only exhibits abstract pieces and are considered the only ones of their type in the country.

El Museo Zacatecano (The Zacatecan Museum) is located in the ancient “casa de la moneda”(House of Money) (1810). This museum displays a series of collections that is unique in its genre. “Mertens” is one of the most well known collections. “Mertens” was created by 209 weavings from the indigenous group Huicholes who live in the southwest region of Zacatecas.

This museum houses didactic religious paintings of the sixteenth and seventeenth century. The museum buildings are examples of the beauties of Colonial architecture.

Located in a section of a building constructed in the nineteenth century as a seminary and that eventually was used as a jail until 1995, the museum was established thanks to the generous donations of Zacatecano artist Manuel Felguerez. Felguerez donated his works that are exhibited in the museum which only exhibits abstract pieces and are considered the only ones of their type in the country.

The museum consists of temporary expositions, an exhibit of projects, a model of the archaeological zone, ample space for education services, and a shop for the artisans. Within each exhibit you can appreciate informative elements about the principle pre-Hispanic cultures who developed the Zacatecan territory, such as:manufactured artefacts, ceramics, and the representation of a dump site sectioned in layers that present each of the evolutionary stages of man, and where archaeologists have found information.

This recent cultural space, open to the public in July of 1998, is located on colonial property and was annexed from the Cathedral of Zacatecas. In this enclosed exhibit the town’s spirituality manifests itself in the beautiful religious treasures. The purpose of the diverse exhibit is to bring the visitor closer to the spirituality of Zacatecas through symbolism and beauty.

El Museo de Ciencias de la Universidad Autonoma de Zacatecas (Museum of Sciences at the Autonomous University of Zacatecas) was formed to develop the necessary instruments for curriculum in Physics and Chemistry, which date back to 1852, and is said to be the origin of the laboratory of the Insitituto de Ciencias (Institute of Sciences).