Museo de la Cultura Maya

This sophisticated museum unlocks the complex world of the Maya through interactive exhibits and genuine artifacts. Watch a slide show explaining medicinal and domestic uses of plants with their Mayan and scientific names, or learn how to write your birth date in Maya glyphs. One of the most fascinating exhibits describes the Maya's ideal of personal beauty, which prompted them to deform craniums, scar the face and body, and induce estrabismo, or cross-eyed vision.

An enormous screen flashes aerial images of more than a dozen Maya sites from Mexico to Honduras. Another large television shows the architectural variety of Maya pyramids and how they were probably built. Then a walk on a glass floor takes you over representative ruins in the Maya world. The museum is built around a stylized three-story ceiba tree, which the Maya believed connected Xibalba (the underworld), Earth, and the heavens, and each floor corresponds to those levels of the Maya cosmos. Try to see the museum before you tour the Río Bec ruins; signs are in Spanish and English.

Note: This information was accurate when it was published, but can change without notice. Please be sure to confirm all rates and details directly with the companies in question before planning your trip.

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