Chapultepec Site Museum & Visitors Center

Photos: Enrique Abe, SEDEMA 

The Chapultepec Site Museum & Visitors Center is offers visitors historical, cultural, and environmental information on one of Mexico City’s most prized natural and cultural resources. Just inside the Lions Gate on Paseo de Reforma, the museum is just about directly south of the Niños Heroes Monument.

The museum occupies the historic gate house of the Chapultepec Military College. That used to be headquartered in the Chapultepec Castle. The museum and visitors center provides a better oriention for visitors. More than 19 million people visit the forest each year. It’s also a catalyst for an ongoing interaction between the scientific, historical, and cultural aspects of the park and its visitors.

The museum focuses on the park’s historical memory, and on its biological and cultural wealth. The museum collection includes engravings, photographs, botanical drawings, architectural and landscape plans, documents, and historical objects.

The permanent exhibition is focused on:

1. Ancient Chapultepec
2. The Colonial Period
3. The 19th Century
4. The 20th Century & Today

The exhibition also includes information on the 20 to 60 species of birds, a dozen species of reptiles and amphibians, and the famous ahuehuete trees. Many trees have lived hundreds of years. Some were even planted during the ancient period. The park is home to 165 species of other trees.

The Chapultepec Site Museum and Visitors Center also makes available up-to-date information on day-to-day activities and ongoing conservation efforts. These are numerous. The center serves as a frequent meeting point for many of the citizens, environmental, and fitness groups who meet and work in the park. Many of them are also collaborators, if not with the museum and visitors center, then with other parts of the park.

Hours: Tuesday through Sunday, 10 a.m. to 5 p.m.