MEXICO CITY.- After almost 4 years of architectural restoration, museographic renovation and actualization of all the systems at the Former Mint House, the National Museum of Cultures (MNC) will open again its doors in October 6th 2010, with state-of-the-art technology, renewed spaces and halls equipped with modern humidity and temperature control as well as lighting systems.

In the space where in 1865 the first museum in Mexico was founded, MNC will be reopened with the exhibition First Peoples of Canada. Masterworks from the Canadian Museum of Civilization at the International Exhibitions Hall. 150 ethnographic and archaeological pieces of great symbolic and historical value integrate the display.

New spaces at the National Museum of Cultures include the Pacific Cultures Hall in the former Monoliths Hall; the Mediateca (media library); an auditorium, and a new warehouse with controlled conditions of temperature and safety.

The first actualization of the National Museum of Cultures since it was inaugurated in 1965 derives from an integral project of architectural adaptation that modifies the hydraulic, illumination, electric, telephonic and safety systems, as well as a contemporary museographic discourses.

Carlos Martinez Ortigoza, coordinator of the Architecture Master Plan, recalled that the museum is lodged in a section of what was in the 18th century the Mint House. Several spaces of this building were part of Palacio Nacional, some of which were reintegrated to the museum “2,000 square meters located at the west of the building, have been recovered for exhibition purposes”.

The Mediateca counts on with state-of-the-art computers and plasma screens that will display interactive material such as virtual visits and emblematic pieces presented in augmented reality.

The emblematic Monoliths Hall of the former National Museum of Archaeology, where Piedra del Sol or Calendario Azteca and Coatlicue were exhibited, among other Mexica sculptures, is currently a permanent exhibitions hall dedicated to the Pacific Cultures and inspired by Miguel Covarrubias.

The exhibition First Peoples of Canada: Masterworks from the Canadian Museum of Civilization will be inaugurated as well in October 6th 2010 and will be open to public visit until late December 2010.