Museo Arqueológico de Mazatlán

Mazatlán


This absorbing museum focuses on pre-Hispanic Sinaloan civilizations. Among obsidian tools and ceramics, standout exhibits include beautiful Aztatlán pottery (900–1200 CE), a funereal urn, malacates (spindles), an intricate upper torso adornment made of 1922 pieces of shell and coral and a statue of a hunchback, Jorobado de la Nautical, believed to be in possession of special powers. The mammoth skeleton in the entry hall harks back to the days when these beasts roamed Sinaloa.


Lonely Planet's must-see attractions

Nearby Mazatlán attractions

1. Museo de Arte

0.03 MILES

This is a small museum in a sprawling colonial courtyard complex, which makes a convincing case for the vitality and innovation of contemporary Mexican…

2. Playa Olas Altas

0.08 MILES

In Old Mazatlán, the crescent-shaped Playa Olas Altas is where tourism first flourished from the 1920s onwards, although the rocky beach is buffeted by…

3. Old Mazatlán

0.18 MILES

Mazatlán's restored old town is a picturesque compendium of noble 19th-century buildings and pretty plazas. It's set back from Playa Olas Altas, a small…

4. Plaza Machado

0.19 MILES

Surrounded by splendid 19th-century buildings, this gorgeous tree-lined plaza comes alive in the evening, when market stalls pop up, couples stroll hand…

5. Teatro Ángela Peralta

0.21 MILES

Named after a 19th-century soprano and constructed between 1869 and 1874, this 1366-seat theater just off Plaza Machado was a thriving center of local…

6. El Clavadista

0.34 MILES

Although not as famous nor as spectacular as Acapulco's cliff divers, local clavadistas cast their bodies from a couple of platforms at the eponymous…

7. Catedral de la Inmaculada Concepción

0.37 MILES

At the center of the old town is this striking 19th-century Romanesque and neo-Gothic melange of a cathedral with yellow twin towers. The dramatic…

8. Playa Norte

0.89 MILES

Flanked by a broad malecón (beach promenade) popular with joggers and strollers, the golden sands of Playa Norte begin just north of Old Mazatlán. Fishing…