Museo del Caracol History Museum

This museum with its unusual spiral layout, like that of a sea snail, lies within the Chapultepec’s wooded zone. Architect Pedro Ramírez Vázquez’s structure draws you up through the museum’s 12 themed galleries. The most important events in Mexico’s history are broken up by periods and developments: the end of the colonial era, the saga of Hidalgo, from Morelos to Mina, the conclusion of the Independence movement, the birth of the federal republic, Mexico’s struggles for existence, the Reform Wars and the Second French Intervention in Mexico, Juárez’s resistance, the triumph of the republic, the era under Porfirio Díaz, President Madero, and towards a new constitution. 

Exhibits include dioramas, scale models, interactive exhibits, videos, and push-button boards. Topics are depicted in dioramas with lighting and audio narration of the events illustrated by clay figures and the 3D scenes. Highlights include a limestone eagle by sculptor José Chávez Morado in the exhibit on the Constitution, and the bronze entrance door that portrays the coming together of European and American cultures.