The history of Monterrey, Nuevo León, has centuries-old traces that many towns left in their wake. Today we have a passport that tries to open the doors to a better knowledge of this population and its past: its museums.
The diversity and quality of the museums of Monterrey offer visitors a good number of options that allow them to enjoy from monumental sculptures and surprising pieces of glass, to images of the glories of Mexican sports, magnificent creations by outstanding artists worldwide and objects inherited from ancient cultures.
The museums of Monterrey are preparing for another century, because even though the museum is the most conservative institution, it only prospers and grows with change. It is in his nature, in his very survival, to evolve together with the women and men who approach him and who are his main sustenance. The true content of these welcoming spaces for meeting and reflection is not so much its collections as its visitors, since the results of a museum are measured by its social and cultural utility.
THE FRAME
To the south of the Macroplaza, right in the heart of the city, stands the Museo de Arte Contemporáneo de Monterrey, better known as MARCO. This prestigious museum, which is one of the largest and most important cultural centers in Latin America, is the work of the renowned architect Ricardo Legorreta, who designed different environments in each of the exhibition rooms.
Since its inauguration in 1991, this venue has become one of the main places of reference and meeting point for the various trends in contemporary art, as well as a forum open to various artistic expressions, for which music, dance , cinema, literature and video have also found their place in this beautiful museum.
Already from its esplanade, the MARCO is an attraction; In it is the Paloma, a magnificent sculpture by Juan Soriano that with its 6 meters high and 4 tons of weight welcomes visitors.
Since its opening, the museum has presented numerous solo and group exhibitions that have attracted artists and audiences from around the world.
The MARCO has also received outstanding exhibitions organized by important institutions worldwide, such as “México, Esplendor de Treinta Siglos”, which constitutes the largest exhibition of Mexican art of all time and that places it at the height of the best museums of contemporary art in the world.
Conceived as a living museum, the MARCO is the host of innumerable activities that make it a fertile cultural center, in whose forum lectures, concerts, theater and cinema are presented; In addition to this, the museum has a good library and a book store.
MUSEUM OF MEXICAN HISTORY
Located in the Plaza de los Cuatro Hundred Years and designed as a new place for recreation and cultural development for the visitor, the Museum of Mexican History houses the most important historical exhibition in northern Mexico. With a sober and modernist style, the work of the architects Oscar Bulnes and Augusto Álvarez, its architectural conception arises from the historical and museographic script, which allows it to have spaces perfectly adapted to its exhibitions and the thematic line it handles.
Helical stairs rise in the center of the lobby that lead to the permanent exhibition room, a huge 400 m2 open space that supports the idea of the continuous sense of history, and expresses it in the freedom that the visitor has to choose their own tour. The hall for temporary exhibitions, the library and the video library, the auditorium, the audiovisual room, the shop and the cafeteria are located around the lobby.
The historical exhibition is organized into four sections. Ancient Mexico, La Colonia, The XIX Century and Modern Mexico.
To the four great areas in which it divides our history, the museum adds a more delicate one to show the diversity of ecosystems and the biological wealth of Mexico, with special emphasis on the importance of water for the conservation and development of life.
ALFA CULTURAL CENTER
The Museum of Art, Science and Technology of the Alfa Cultural Center was inaugurated in 1978, its main activity being the promotion of culture through various artistic and scientific manifestations. It has several exhibition rooms, a cafeteria, a gift shop and a movie projection room equipped with an Omnimax system, as well as large areas for children and young people to interact.
The main building, with its characteristic cylindrical body sloping towards the north, is the work of the architects Fernando Garza Treviño, Samuel Weiffberger and Efraín Alemán Cuello. The ground floor houses an imposing mural by Manuel Ferguérez, entitled “El Espejo”; right there you will find an aquarium and a traveling exhibition area that eventually extends to the second floor. The third and fourth floors contain the permanent collections of the center, as well as the Illusion and Reason area, a space for scientific and astronomical experimentation that, through various interactive games, allows to verify the most varied scientific phenomena.
The main attraction of the center, the Planetarium or multitheater, is the nucleus of the building, arranged in a hemispherical way, in which impressive projections are carried out, where sound and image come together to give the spectator the illusion of a reality that surrounds it. completely, thanks to the 24 meter long screen.
Other areas of importance are the Pre-Hispanic Garden and the Café Theater, where different events take place week after week, ranging from concerts to poetry recitals and plays. Finally, the Pabellón del Universo houses Rufino Tamayo's important stained glass window of almost 58 m2, “El Universo”, located in an area created expressly for this great work by the Oaxacan artist.
MONTERREY MUSEUM
In an old building designed by the North American architect Ernest Jansen to house the production areas of the Cuauhtémoc Brewery, the Monterrey Museum was founded due to the need to have a suitable venue where the most important manifestations of national and international visual arts could be presented. .
The stay here is charming, as you can see the cooking pots that were used at the beginning of the century, and at the same time enjoy extraordinary art exhibitions. In addition, the museum periodically organizes cultural events and offers services such as libraries, shop and cafeteria.
From the beginning, the permanent collection of the Museo de Monterrey has had the vocation of bringing together important pieces of modern and contemporary art representative of Latin America, but with an emphasis on the Mexican. Throughout its existence, the museum has managed to form one of the most important collections in Mexico, with more than 1,500 works of different artistic manifestations, such as sculpture, painting, drawing, graphics and photography.
The Cuauhtémoc Moctezuma Brewery also created, in a building annexed to the gardens and the Monterrey Museum, the Mexican Professional Baseball Hall of Fame, as a fair tribute to the great figures that this country has given to the beautiful game. Likewise, in 1977, the Monterrey Sports Museum was inaugurated, together with the Hall of Fame.
Another attraction of this historic corner is the cozy Beer Garden, where you can enjoy pleasant moments of rest and a free beer.
GLASS MUSEUM
The Glass Museum is the first and only museum of its kind in Latin America. Located in an old industrial warehouse of Vidriera Monterrey, through its three floors the history, work processes and development that glass has experienced in Mexico is shown, as well as some of the most beautiful pieces made with this material in our country.
The Glass Museum exhibits on its ground floor various pieces that summarize the history of glass in Mexico, ranging from pre-Hispanic times to the end of the last century. On the first floor you can admire different expressions of popular glass art, as well as the first industrially produced bottles at the beginning of the 20th century. Also on this floor are a 19th century pharmacy and the Pellandini-Marco stained glass window. In the attic the latest creations of different national and international artists are temporarily exhibited.
Another gallery has recently been opened to further modernize the museum and provide it with new spaces. The new pavilion has a temporary exhibition hall, whose objective is to show the most innovative and original works of glass art in the world. Thanks to this extension, the old flat glass building dating from the 1930s, as well as a specialized shop, a cafeteria and several children's activity rooms were restored and refurbished.
REGIONAL MUSEUM OF NUEVO LEÓN
The Regional Museum of Nuevo León, located in the beautiful building of the Bishopric, collects the history and culture of the northeast region of the country, and its importance in the historical evolution of Mexico. In its eight rooms you can see from pieces dating from 1000 BC and objects that belong to the time of Independence, to engravings and images that speak of the important role that Nuevo León has played in the industrialization of Mexico.
Among the rich collection that the museum has, there are numerous documents and objects that date back to the New Spanish era, the Reformation and the French and North American interventions. It also exhibits an excellent sample of colonial religious painting, represented by splendid oil paintings by Cabrera and Vallejo. Conceived as a dynamic organism, the Nuevo León Regional Museum is the promoter and scene of constant cultural activities of various kinds.
