Famous Mexican resort destination Cancun opened this month a new Mayan Museum.
Located on Kukulkan Boulevard in Cancun’s Hotel Zone, the $15 million Mayan Museum is the largest structure built by the National Institute of Anthropology and History (INAH) since the Templo Mayor Museum in 1987.
The Maya were among the great ancient civilizations of Mesoamerica. They built cities with elaborate ceremonial centers and soaring stone pyramids in what’s now Mexico, Honduras, Guatemala and El Salvador.
Designed to promote the region’s Mayan culture and roots, the modern structure took six years to build and features 350 artifacts and relics, including an exhibit of 14,000-year-old skeletal remains discovered in the last 12 years in Tulum’s underwater caves.
Three exhibit halls, elevated more than 3,000 feet above sea level to prevent flood damage during storms, focus on the Mayan people, architecture, art and artifacts, including tools and fragmented sculptures.
The opening of the new Mayan Museum comes just weeks before the predicted ‘end of the word’. According to some interpretations, the Mayan calendar predicts the end of humanity on December 21. The Mayan civilization predicted a final event which included a solar shift as well as several earthquakes.
Cancun receives around 12 million visitors annually; Mayan Museum officials are predicting around 1 million visits a year.
