Museo Anahuacalli (Diego Rivera)

The Museo Anahuacalli stands in the Coyoacán district of Mexico City, in the San Pablo Tepetlapa area, on a lava-rock site near the former Pedregal. Diego Rivera conceived the building in the 1940s as a home for his private collection of pre-Columbian art, and he began work on it with architect Juan O'Gorman, with construction of the main building carried out in the 1950s. After Rivera's death in 1957 the project was completed by O'Gorman and Rivera's associates, and the museum opened in 1964. The name Anahuacalli comes from the Nahuatl for house of Anahuac, the valley of Mexico. The architecture is a neo-Aztec and Mesoamerican-inspired design, with dark volcanic stone walls, steep pyramid-like stairways, narrow window slits, and a roof terrace with views. The interior has a ground floor, a mid level with a chapel-like space, and an upper level with the Rivera studio. The collection consists of more than 50,000 pieces, including ceramics, figurines, masks and sculptures from Teotihuacan, the Gulf Coast, Western Mexico and the Aztec world, many acquired by Rivera over decades. Only a portion of the collection is on view at any time. The curatorial approach is aesthetic and thematic rather than strictly chronological, with objects displayed in dim spaces that suit the stone architecture. A mosaic ceiling designed by Rivera in the upper level uses coloured stone, depicting symbols of the Mesoamerican world. Wall panels and works by Rivera and others occasionally appear in temporary exhibitions. The building was renovated in the 2010s and the museum has expanded its programming, including events around Day of the Dead. The structure is in generally good condition, although its stone surfaces are sensitive to weather.