Jürg Widmer Probst explores the best museums in Guatemala
The best museums in Guatemala capture the country’s dramatic and often surprising history, from chocolate and rum to dictators’ palaces and Mayan ruins. Even if you visit Guatemala mainly for its mountains and jungles, you will find these museums offer a valuable and interesting insight into the country’s past and present.
1. Dictator’s Palacio Nacional is now a peace monument
The Palacio Nacional presents a powerful vision of Guatemala’s past and present that any visitor should try to see. The palace was built by slave labour on the orders of dictator Jorge Ubico, complete with colossal chandeliers and enormous murals depicting Guatemalan history.
But the palace is now a museum and one of its most popular features is the peace sculpture, which was inveiled in 1997. It commemorates the end of the Civil War, depicting two hands holding a real rose, which is changed in a ceremony each day at 11am.
2. Children will love Museo de los Niños
If you’re travelling with children then check out Museo de los Niños, which is dedicated to hands-on displays like its earthquake simulator and jigsaw map of Guatemala.
The museum is just a few minutes’ walk from La Aurora Zoo, so you will get a full day of fun for the young ones.
3. Explore Mayan history in Tikal’s museums
You can’t visit Guatemala without plunging into the history of the Maya people, and perhaps the most famous set of Mayan ruins is Tikal, in the northern Peten department.
The ruins themselves are impressive, but Tikal also includes two museums, the Sylvanus G. Morley Museum and the Museo Litico, which is dedicated just to displaying the inscribed stone slabs known as stelae.
You can also pop into the Japanese-funded research centre to watch restorers working on artefacts and see a gallery displaying the different materials used by Mayan craftspeople.
4. Celebrate and enjoy the history of chocolate
Guatemala gave the world chocolate, and Antigua’s Choco Museum is a great way to explore chocolate’s origins and find out how it evolved from a bitter drink into the treat we enjoy today.
Chocolate tasting and making feature heavily in the museum’s tours, and you can pick up all sorts of chocolate-themed delights in the museum shop.
6. A museum for rum lovers: Museo Casa Botran
If you enjoy the occasional tot of rum, then Quetzaltenango, also known as Xela City, has something just for you: Museo Casa Botran.
This museum is dedicated to the history of rum and will offer plenty of chances for tasting as the tour shows how the famous drink is made. You must make a reservation.
7. Museo del Ferrocarril de los Altos
One of Quetzaltenango’s quirkiest museums is the Museo del Ferrocarril de los Altos, which commemorates an ambitious but ultimately project to connect the city to the Pacific Coast with a railway.
It opened in 1930, but closed when flooding caused extensive damage to the already struggling project. The little museum keeps its memory alive and will certainly entertain train enthusiasts.
