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All Mexico Mexico City Museo del Metro (Metro Museum)

Museo del Metro (Metro Museum)

This underground museum highlights the history of Mexico City's subway system.

Mexico City, Mexico

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Old driver’s uniform.   Mario Yair TS / Atlas Obscura User
Subway Museum.   Mario Yair TS / Atlas Obscura User
Pascual Cultural Foundation.   Mario Yair TS / Atlas Obscura User
Aztec figure.   Mario Yair TS / Atlas Obscura User
Neon photos from 1969.   Mario Yair TS / Atlas Obscura User
Tickets from the ’70s.   Mario Yair TS / Atlas Obscura User
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Opened at the Mixcoac subway station, the Metro Museum displays the history of the Collective Transportation System (STC) via a collection of objects, paintings, designs, and photos.

Mexico City’s subway system was built in the 1960s as part of modernization efforts deployed in preparation of the 1968 Summer Olympics. However, because of the magnitude of the work, the system wasn’t actually inaugurated until 1969.

During excavations undertaken while building the subway, the workers found a medley of archaeological and paleontological pieces, including mammoth bones, Aztec figurines, and viceregal dolls. Today, those pieces are displayed in the museum.

An all-star team of architects helped with the subway system’s planning, including Felix Candela and Rina Lazo. One of the museum’s rooms shows original, unpublished plans for some of the stations’ designs. You’ll also see the minimalist designs Lance Wyman created for the stations’ typography.

In 1969, instead of advertising posters, the city displayed huge electronic boards that showed photos of Mexico in neon colors. One of the museum’s rooms shows fragments of those photos, and a replica of the original designs.

Another area shows images of hostesses leading passengers to the leather seats during the subway system’s initial years. The main hall of the museum exhibits a collection of thousands of commemorative subway tickets issued since 1969. The end of the museum houses a permanent exhibit showcasing the art collection of the Pascual Cultural Foundation.

Update as of January 2023: Line 12 is partially reopened meaning the museum can be visited again.

Related Tags

Subways Underground Subterranean Subterranean Sites Museums Museums And Collections
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Mario Yair TS

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linkogecko

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July 4, 2019

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Museo del Metro (Metro Museum)
851-859 Av. Revolución
México D.F.
Mexico City, 03920
Mexico
19.376047, -99.187675
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