Description
Located in the craft market on the island of Cuale. The museum displays a varied collection of loan items from the regional museums of Guadalajara, Colima and Michoacán, showing the traditions of the ethnic groups inhabiting the west of Mexico: the Chupicuaro, Tarascans and other cultures prior to the Spanish conquest.
Historical overview
The collection reflects the traditions of some of the groups which inhabited the western region of Mexico. It was inaugurated in 1978 and is situated in the craft market on the island of Cuale. It reopened in 2005 with a collection loaned from the regional museums of Guadalajara, Colima and Michoacán.
The permanent exhibition introduces us to the traditions of some of the nomadic groups who lived in the western region of Mexico in pre-Hispanic times. More specifically, the themes of the exhibition are: 1) From nomadic life to settlement, 2) Chupicuaro, the symmetry of design, 3) Shaft tombs, offerings below the ground, 4) Aztatlan, symbolism of ceramics, 5) The Purepecha, an empire in the west, and 6) The Spanish conquest, change and survival.
The museum has a range of original artifacts with pottery, art and hunting and gathering including projectile tips, scrapers and hammers. All were found during the archeological excavations in the Sayula-Zacoalco region of Jalisco, the bay of Mantanchén in Nayarit, the Ixtapa area, the surroundings of Puerto Vallarta and Puerto Marqués in Guerrero.