Bridget and I arrived at the Antropología about 10:30 in the morning.

On Tuesday, March 27, Bridget and I took a taxi — actually, an “Uber” — to the National Museum of Anthropology, the Antropología.  It is located in Chapultepec (a Nahuatl word meaning “grasshopper hill”), the largest city park in the Western Hemisphere.  We immediately went to the room devoted to the Teotihuacán culture, since we had visited the pyramids on the previous day.  It includes many of the most perfect figures from the pyramids, especially the pyramid of the feathered serpent.

Mark meets a man from Teotihuacán.

Since the people of Teotihuacán did not have a written language, the history and meaning of the civilization has had to be reconstructed by archaeologists.  They now believe that Teotihuacán was created about the time of Christ, and survived until about the seventh century.  It was a trading civilization, and its artifacts have been discovered throughout Mexico and the Yucatán.  Traces of fire damage indicate that the city came to a violent end.  Over the years, the pyramids were gradually covered by dust and dirt, and grasses grew upon them.  At the time of the Spanish Conquest, they resembled grass-covered hills.  Only in modern times have they been uncovered, restored, and excavated under the direction of Mexican archaeologists.

Visitors look at the massive Calendar Stone.

After we visited the Teotihuacán exhibit, we moved on to the Tenochtitlán room, where artifacts from the time of the Aztec civilization are curated and displayed.  There is a scale model of the Aztec capital, which was surrounded by water flowing into the Mexico City basin.  The model shows the massive Templo Mayor that was dismantled, its stone used to construct the cathedral and other major buildings of Mexico City.  There on the heights of the templo, the Aztecs sacrificed the captives from the surrounding peoples.  Dissatisfaction with Moctezuma was so great that Cortes was able to recruit warriors from many of the surrounding tribes to support his assault on the capital.

At noon, we were joined by our stateside friends, Laura and John Lewis, plus Laura’s mother, brother, and sister.  We viewed more of the Antropología, then drove to El Cardenal Restaurant for a lovely meal, and then walked to the Palacio de Bellas Artes.