page_title: Museo Nacional de la Máscara
section_title: The museum
hierarchical_section_title: Museo Nacional de la Máscara / The museum
caption_attribution_description: English: Mask for the Danza de los Santiagos from Zacualpan, State of Mexico at the Museo Nacional de la Máscara in San Luis Potosi, Mexico
context_page_description: Museo Nacional de la Máscara is a museum in the city of San Luis Potosí dedicated to Mexico's masked dance and ritual heritage from the pre Hispanic period to the present. It is located in a former mansion on Plaza del Carmen, which became federal property in 1907, housing the current museum since 1982. The permanent collection contains about 1,300 pieces, the second largest in Mexico after Rafael Coronel Museum in Zacatecas city, and is almost entirely made of Mexican masks and dance costumes.
context_section_description: The current museum was inaugurated in 1982.  It has Mexico's largest mask collection, with about 1,300 pieces, including twenty five full dance costumes, from all over the country. Mexico Desconocido magazine calls it one of the country's best museums for its unusual collection.
  The initial collection was a donation made by anthropologist and researcher Victor Jose Moya Rubio and Mildred Dingleberry Himm, his lifelong loving wife. Mexican masks are not only a handcraft, but also have symbolic and cultural value as their use is intimately connected with certain dances and festivals.   The masks come from Mexico's various ethnic traditions and mostly represent animals, devils/demons, saints, conquistadores, angels, and some fantastic creatures. The museum also has a small collection of masks from other parts of the world, mostly from India.
  The space has six main exhibition halls, with the two largest dedicated to pre Hispanic masks and various masks from the colonial period forward. Other halls include the Sala Internacional for the foreign masks and the Sala Centenario dedicated to the elaboration of masks from various materials. Another is dedicated to temporary exhibits. There is also a basement warehouse and the roof has a terrace offering views of the Plaza del Carmen.
  The museum was reinaugurated in 2008 after remodeling and an updating of its collection and organization.
  The institution also hosts temporary exhibits, such as a 2013 exhibition of masks from Venice's Carnival, presentations, concerts, conferences, classes, film showing and workshops.
caption: Mask for the Danza de los Santiagos from Zacualpan, State of Mexico
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