{"id":5992,"date":"2017-07-12T07:44:18","date_gmt":"2017-07-12T14:44:18","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.heuermontage.com\/?p=5992"},"modified":"2017-07-12T07:44:18","modified_gmt":"2017-07-12T14:44:18","slug":"la-muerta","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.heuermontage.com\/?p=5992","title":{"rendered":"La Muerta"},"content":{"rendered":"

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DCMX has more museums than any other city in the world with the exception of London, or so I am told. Today I am providing a glimpse of three of them, as different from each other as can be and yet linked by a common theme, how to deal with the dead.<\/p>\n

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Here is the home of Trotzky during his short exile. The museum is a modest affair, house and grounds pretty much left untouched, down to the rabbit cages since the time of his assassination. \u00a0A small modern gallery has been added, exhibiting permanent historical photographs and changing contemporary political shows. The vibe is one of simultaneous veneration and resignation, and gratitude if a small percentage of the multitudes visiting the nearby Frida Kahlo residence is willing to take a small detour.<\/p>\n

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An important man lived and died here, a Marxist revolutionary, leader of the communist party after the October revolution, head of the Fourth International, enemy of Stalin. Several attempts on his life failed, until one didn’t – in 1940 a soviet agent killed him with an ice axe. \u00a0You wouldn’t know it; despite the grave in the garden, the delapidated place exudes a kind of peacefulness, languor or even indifference.<\/p>\n

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The contrast could not be larger when entering the\u00a0Museo Nacional de Antropolog\u00eda e Historia – INAH, \u00a0<\/a><\/p>\n

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It is an architectural marvel, a glorious memorial to a diverse past, and filled with awe-inspiring collections. It is also, quite frankly, overwhelming. The kind of place that you can only truly get to know if you live nearby and have unlimited time to visit.<\/p>\n

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Exhibits are in chronological order of Mexican civilizations, more or less, spread out counterclockwise around a central courtyard with water features. Each individual exhibit also has their own, smaller courtyard. They surround the building from the outside, buffering it from the world and providing tranquil panoramas of how people lived through the centuries. Guides hover, groups scurry around, multitudes of people are entranced in the offerings of the showcases.<\/p>\n

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And here, in some important ways, death is the centerpiece, with so much collected evidence of sacrifices, death celebrations, death battles and games, and skulls where ever you look. \u00a0Since I am no historian and know nothing about Mexican culture I am offering three accounts of the preoccupation with\u00a0La Muerta<\/em> found at various sources. \u00a0They seem to overlap and paint an interesting picture.<\/p>\n

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Chicano Obsession and Acceptance of La Muerta<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n