The Regional Archeology Museum at Chapala’s Centro Cultural González Gallo reopened this week after a six-month renovation initiative carried out by the Jalisco Ministry of Culture.
The permanent exhibit, housed in a single salon at the former railway station, was re-inaugurated Tuesday, November 5. Mounted under the title “Lake Chapala, Mirror of Life,” it tracks local history from ancient times to the modern era with a selection of artifacts displayed in a half-dozen glass cases, maps and photographs hung on the walls and brief, hand-lettered descriptions in Spanish and English.
The room is handsomely wrapped in a decorative mural painted by Omar García de Alba. Pre-Hispanic hieroglyphs are set off against a turquoise wash backdrop across the lower portion of the mural and a sunny shade of ochre above.
Archaeologists Eduardo Ladrón de Guevara Ureña and Adiel de Jesús Barrera Trejo were in charge of designing the museography, featuring the most representative and valuable antique treasures the González Gallo Center – housed in Chapala’s old train station – has acquired from various donors. Most of the pieces were discovered by local residents, excavated from the lakebed or from land turned over in construction projects.
Located at the north end of Avenida González Gallo near the entrance to the Chapala-Mezcala highway, the center is open to the public Tuesday through Saturday, 10 a.m. to 6 p.m., Sunday 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Admission is free of charge.