Museo de Sitio de Monte Albán

The Museo de Sitio de Monte Albán exhibits artifacts from the Monte Albán archaeological site, including ceramics, sculptures, and engravings, highlighting Zapotec culture and history.

Planning your visit

Monte Albán was the Zapotec capital, founded around 500 BC on a levelled mountaintop above the Oaxaca valley — the summit was artificially flattened to create a plaza, an enormous undertaking, and the city dominated the region for over a thousand years.

The site museum displays what excavation has produced: ceramics, funerary urns modelled as deities, carved stone, jade and jewellery. The Danzantes are the most discussed — relief slabs showing contorted human figures, once interpreted as dancers and now generally read as slain or sacrificed captives, with genital mutilation depicted.

The point of the museum is that it is small and sits at the site entrance, so it takes twenty minutes and materially improves the walk that follows. The great plaza, the ball court, the observatory building set at an odd angle to everything else, and the tombs make sense with the objects in mind.

Admission is included with the site. Bookable options include tours from Oaxaca. Current availability is shown below.