Marvel at the Mexico City Museum Inside an Inverted Mayan Pyramid

Architect Nik Karalis finds the museum conceived by Diego Rivera both unforgettable and inspiring.

Mexico City’s Museo Anahuacalli is unlike any other museum I’ve visited. Mexican muralist Diego Rivera bought the four-hectare site in the early 1940s to house his collection of 60,000 pre-Hispanic artefacts and it was completed after his death by his daughter, Ruth, in 1964. The uninviting design forces you to engage with its content and symbolism. Using space, light and inscriptions, it is suffocating in some moments and almost euphoric in others.

The original building – an inverted Mayan pyramid – is an architectural curiosity. A second section was completed in 2021 by Mauricio Rocha, a local architect who started his practice in Mexico 30 years prior. Comprising three new buildings, it now has a central forecourt, a stage for performances and modern architectural pavilions that contain a library, exhibition hall and warehouse. The tension between these two parts makes the museum special.

Mexico City is one of the most exciting and culturally enlightened cities I have visited. It is colourful and vibrant. In contrast, Anahuacalli is sombre and deeply reflective, constructed of two simple materials – concrete and basalt or lava stone. Anahuacalli means “house surrounded by water”, which is metaphorical because it’s built on an ancient lava reserve.

It’s impossible to understand the nuances of the museum without a guide. You enter in total darkness and it slowly brightens in light and optimism as you emerge on the upper levels. There are continual references to the duality of life and the afterlife, themes that were sacred to the Mayans. Today, architecture has become a decorative art and has shifted away from its force to tell a story and connect deeply on a human level. This museum reminds me to always give meaning to what we do.

Melbourne-based architect Nik Karalis is a principal of Woods Bagot. His achievements include national and state awards from the Australian Institute of Architects.

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