Description
The history of Xoconochco (place of the bitter tuna cactus) is told in a 1920s Art Deco building. It is a tale of a land that was conquered by the Mexica, but whose original inhabitants were the Mokaya, who gave way more than two thousand years ago to the Olmecs, who left stelae and monoliths, such as those in Izapa dating back to 1500 B.C.
Historical overview
The museum occupies part of a building with a strong Art Deco influence built in 1925-26 as the seat of local government in Tapachula. The area occupied by the museum inside the building was once earmarked for the jail. It offers a glimpse of the pre-Hispanic history of the region with displays of monoliths and stelae from the Izapa archeological site. The Mokaya were the first settlers at the time of the hunter-gatherers. The Soconusco was conquered by the Olmecs more than 2,000 years ago and they left great cities whose remains are found in the archeological sites of today. Izapa, which was built around 1500 BC, was an important civic and religious center. The Mexica managed to conquer the Chiapas coast, subjecting the Soconusco towns to tributes as well as controlling the trade routes to Central America.