Museum tour in Aguascalientes

On Sunday I went on a museum tour with Jonathan and Jin. We started our tour at the Museo Espacio, an open space with old industrial buildings and station installations which have been rendered inoperative. From there on we visited the Museo Ferrocarrilero de Aguascalientes (Railroaders' Museum), the Museo de Aguascalientes, where we attended a painting workshop, and finally the Museo Nacional de la Muerte (National Museum of Death).

The Museo Espacio is located in the complex that forms part of the old railway workshops. Some of the buildings were also once used as a workshop area of the mechanical carpentry, where models were constructed for the manufacturing of shoes. Today it is an enclosure created for contemporary art. Its mission is to preserve the architectural and historical heritage of the old locomotive workshops, as well as to bring the community closer together and spread among it the imprint for the social, economic and industrial development they represent.

The Railroaders' Museum is housed in the old city train station and has preserved its original structure and facade. It shows about 10,000 pieces of the railway activity (locomotives, wagons, rails, transportation goods) as well as the testimonies of those who worked in this sector when it existed. The museum offers also an exhibition which is dedicated to the many catastrophic accidents that have occurred in the railway history in Mexico. Besides, the day we visited the museum there was held a classic car meeting. Hundreds of people came with their vintage cars and sold or bought spare parts or used the day just for photo sessions.

This museum houses the work of artists from all over the state of Aguascalientes. During our visit we had the opportunity to participate in a short workshop to draw some paintings with chalk colours.

This museum, which is owned by the Autonomous University of Aguascalientes (UAA), focuses on the dissemination of objects related to the theme of death in Mexico. As death plays a very important role in the Mexican culture, the museum shows items which are related to the infraworld. Furthermore there is a little exhibition which shows how different cultures around the world celebrate the death.