Mexico is planning a new museum at Chichén Itzá

2023-03-21T11:53:00-04:00

The museum, which is still in the planning stages, will replace a much smaller building that closed more than ten years ago. It is likely to follow in the museo de sitio (site museum) model found at other complexes managed by the federal Instituto Nacional de Antropologia e História (INAH). Carlos Esperón, the director of the Maya Museum in Cancún, in the neighbouring state of Quintana Roo, tells The Art Newspaper that work on the museum “could take two years.”

Meanwhile, the Art Newspaper is reporting that several finds taken from the disputed new Maya Train project’s construction will be displayed at the new museum, which is the third most visited cultural site in Mexico. Some experts had feared it would eventually become at risk over the number of visitors interacting with the 1,500-year-old space.

The new museum will apparently be built away from the UNESCO-protected site's monumental area on the other side of a highway so as not to risk any further damage. A section called Chichén Viejo which had previously been off-limits will also be made public as part of the construction project. Costs are expected to exceed US$14.4 million.

Three pyramids in one: Mayan Kukulkan pyramid is an architectural "Russian nesting doll"

2016-11-17T13:08:00-05:00

Once, twice, three times a pyramid: thanks to non-invasive scanning, archaeologists have determined that "El Castilo," also known as the Kukulkan pyramid in Chichen Itza, has two other pyramids inside of it. As The Guardian explains:

"A 10-metre-tall pyramid was found within another 20-metre structure, which itself is enveloped by the 30-metre exterior visible at the Maya archeological complex known as Chichen Itza in Yucatán state. The smallest pyramid was built between the years 550 and 800, engineers and anthropologists said. The middle structure had already been discovered in the 1930s and dates back to the years 800-1000, while the largest one was finished between 1050 and 1300."

Pyramids in the news:

Archinect - News

Mexico is planning a new museum at Chichén Itzá

Three pyramids in one: Mayan Kukulkan pyramid is an architectural "Russian nesting doll"