Comitan´s Archaeological Museum, located in the region that once was named Balun Canaan, the land that Rosario Castellanos loved a lot. It was opened on August 28, 1993 after restructuring what once was the first federal elementary school at the locality, within the gardens of a sixteenth-century Dominican monastery.

The exterior, which highlights its porch, is a provincial version of Art Deco, widely used in the era of Mexican artistic nationalism. The interior, however, is done according to the traditional way of Comitan: a courtyard surrounded by corridors. A bust of the musician Esteban Alfonso decorates the courtyard.

The idea of a museum arose because thery had the collection of “La Cueva de los Andasolos” (the Cave of the people that walk alone), that was collected by the archaeologist Carlos Navarrete in 1976. In this collection, belonging to the classical period, you can see an urn with the solar representations and other vessels that evoke the underworld and now they are on display at the main hall of the site.

This building also lodges the House of Culture of the municipality, the Municipal Archives of Comitan (the most recent material of criminal trials and the Official Journal) and the local library, forming a whole entirety called Cultural Center Rosario Castellanos. From the contents of the museum, the awakening of Silvanajab from Pre-classic stage or the markets of the ballgame Tenam Rosario and a little flute carved in a human femur, are highlighted, just to name a few of them quickly.

The trail of the Silvanajab, surrounded by water glyphs, depicts a man apparently in a bathtub in an attitude of masturbating. This trail, along with others such as Chinkultic also Pre-classic shows stylistic features very similar to those of Izapa in the Soconusco.

The museum has three permanent exhibition halls and a temporary exhibition. In the main hall it is displayed the most relevant of the archeology of a section of the Central Depression of the periods: Prehistoric (8000-2000 BC), Pre-classic (2000 BC – 300 AD), the Proto classic (400 BC – 300 AD), Classic (300-900 AD) and Post Classic (900 – 1550 AD). The room dedicated to the Cult of the Caves in eastern Chiapas, has figures of bats, jaguars and owls and symbols of the night. At the Tenam Puente Room you can find the most representative objects from this site, which is considered a sacred space, a residence place of the ruling class and elite.

SCHEDULE From Tuesday to Sunday 9:00 to 18:00 hrs.

COST Free Entry

ACTIVITIES It offers free tours

RECOMMENDATIONS Visit the museum with all your family, bring comfortable clothing.