Cornel Manuel Gutierrez Zamora Museum of the City of Veracruz: it is one of the most beautiful in the city, and the historic development of the state is revealed in its installations; the customs of its people are also shown through a well arranged exhibition where its colourful carnival stands out.
Since November the 25th of 1970, the museum has as its seat the old neoclassical edifice built in the second half of the XIX century to house the Gutierrez Zamora Hospice. In 1998 its installations were refurbished and its exhibitions were rearranged as well.
There are currently 5 rooms on its ground floor: Foundation, Conquer and Colonies, Slavery, Revolution, and Independence; besides, its exhibits archaeological objects found in the region belonging to the Totonaca and Olmeca Cultures.
Contemporary artistic manifestations and objects reflecting the tradition of the state can be appreciated on the first floor.
Address: 397 Ignacio Zaragoza Street, Historic Centre, Veracruz
Telephones: (52-229) 931-6962 / 931-4742
Working hours: Tuesdays through Sundays from 10:00 hours up till 18:00 hours.
Precinct Museum of the Reform: the place where the law that nationalised the ecclesiastic properties, act that sealed the separation between the church and the Mexican state, is nowadays the seat of this historic and educational precinct based on the period of the Reform (1851-1861), the violent and bloody struggle that determined the rupture between the worldly and the divine powers.
The museum has four rooms where statues of the most outstanding liberals of that time are displayed: Benito Juarez Garcia, Ignacio de la Llave, Miguel Lerdo de Tejada, Santos Degollado, Juan Antonio de la Fuente, Manuel Gutierrez Zamora, Melchor Ocampo, Guillermo Prieto and Jose Maria Mata.
It also shows a document with the history of the Reform, the biographies of its main players, a graphic regarding life in Mexico during the said period, and a marble plaque that points out the place where the remains of Doņa Angela Cortes y Arellano, great granddaughter of Hernan Cortes, the Spanish conquistador, are located.
Its seat is a former Catholic temple that was part of the former Convent of San Francisco. With a Toscana style, it has a church tower of three bodies measuring 33 metres that was used as a lighthouse for the port for some time, being called for that reason "Juarez Lighthouse".
In 1968 a presidential order declared the place the Precinct of the Reform, turning it into an open space for local fine artists.
Address: On the crossing of Benito Juarez Street (former San Francisco Street) and Jose Maria Morelos y Pavon (former La Playa Street); in front of the Republica Plaza, Colony Centro, Veracruz.
Telephone: (52-229) 989-8800 extension 119
Working hours: Tuesdays through Saturdays from 10:00 hours up till 18:00 hours; and from 10:00 hours up till 14:30 hours on Sundays.
Naval Museum: On June the 1st of 1997, when the Mexican Navy celebrated 100 years of existence, the then president of the republic Ernesto Zedillo Ponce de Leon inaugurated this space of cult and homage for our seamen, especially the braves who defended the Port of Veracruz during the US invasion of April 1914.
The exhibition concept of its 4 rooms spins around the following themes: the history of navigation, the participation of the navy in historic events, replicas of the classrooms of the old naval and arms school, and instruments of navigation.
Its seat is the old building of the Heroic Military Naval School.
Address: 418 Aristas Street, corner with Gomez Farias, Veracruz
Telephone: (52-229) 931-4078
Working hours: Tuesdays through Sundays from 9:00 hours up till 17:00 hours; entrance is free.
Salvador Diaz Miron House Museum and Literary Forum: It was the home of the illustrious poet, writer and journalist from Veracruz Salvador Diaz Miron (1853-1928). After the dead of the poet the house remained abandoned until 1981, when the Town Council of Veracruz ordered its refurbishment; it would open its doors as a museum a year later.
The house of Diaz Miron has two storeys and presents architectonic characteristics proper of the XIX century. Temporary exhibitions of fine arts currently take place on its ground floor, and it shows documents and images of the poet as well.
Besides, there is an auditorium with room for 60 people, where the so-called Literary Forum organises chats, presentations of books, conferences, movie shows, and readings of poems, amongst other activities.
There is an information module regarding the house and its activities on the stairway located in the central part. There are also books from different authors, magazines and other printed material for sale.
The bureau and dormitory of the man of letters can be visited on the first floor.
Address: 322 Zaragoza Avenue, Colony Centro, Veracruz
Telephone: (52-229) 121-5082
Working hours: Mondays through Fridays from 9:00 hours up till 19:00 hours.
Entrance: entrance is free
Bulwark of Santiago Field Museum: it is a colonial building of military character that was built to protect the city from the pirates that attacked the American coasts by the late XVII and early XVIII centuries.
There is a small museum inside this historic monument that exhibits models related to the urban development of the city, from the arrival of the Spanish conquistadors on.
It also displays a beautiful collection of pre Hispanic jewellery called the Jewels of the Fisherman, conformed by a series of objects found in the sea of the Gulf of Mexico.
Address: Francisco Canal Street unnumbered, Colony Centro, Veracruz
Telephone: (52-229) 931-1059
Working hours: Tuesdays through Sundays from 10:00 hours up till 16:30 hours
Fort Museum of San Juan de Ulua: models and drawings related to the history of the fort, which is located on an isle, are exhibited in what once were the dungeons of a precinct built between the XVI and XVII centuries. Its original purpose was to protect Veracruz from the sudden and treacherous attacks of the pirates.
With the passing of time San Juan de Ulua was utilised as commercial centre, headquarters of the military and prison, having the last housed some illustrious "guests" such as Friar Servando Teresa de Mier (famous religious man, insurgent and politician) and Jesus Arriaga, known as "Chucho the Broken", a popular bandit who in the best Robin Hood style, robbed the rich to help the poor.
Address: On San Juan de Ulua Isle, Colony Veracruz
Telephone: (52-229) 938-5151
Working hours: Tuesdays through Sundays from 9:00 hours up till 16:30 hours
Museum of Cempoala: remains of ceramics and other objects of great value found during the excavations and investigation works, carried out in the homonymous archaeological zone, are on exhibition in its interior.
Located in the Gulf of Mexico, Cempoala (Twenty Waters in English) was founded in the year 1200 AD approximately. There are more than a hundred buildings in this archaeological zone, raised with rounded river stones cemented with a pre Hispanic mixture of sea sand and eggshells.
Amongst its most outstanding precincts we have the Pimiento, with representations of human skulls decorating its exterior; the Temple of the Cross, which keeps remains of mural paintings; the Temple of the Small Faces, which owes its name to the small mud skulls decorating it, and the System IV, an ample walled precinct that contains the Main Temple, the Cluster of the Chimneys and the Great Pyramid.
Address: Archaeological Zone of Cempoala, at 157 kilometres from the Port of Veracruz.
Working hours: Mondays through Sundays from 9:00 hours up till 17:30 hours.
Don Venustiano Carranza Lighthouse Museum: it exhibits personal objects, photographs, furniture and documents related to the life in the army and in Veracruz of Venustiano Carranza (1859-1920), known as "The Baron of the 4 Swamps", who established the Powers of the Nation in this building inaugurated in 1910 by President Porfirio Diaz.
Address: In front of the Fort of San Juan de Ulua
Working hours: Tuesdays through Fridays from 9:00 hours up till 13:00 hours; and from 9:00 hours up till 12:00 hours on Sundays.
