Under the title “Along the Paths of Rescue, Trail of Time,” the Maya Train Museum presents the archaeological discoveries made during the explorations that accompanied this major infrastructure project.
Peninsular Athenaeum: Layers of Thought and Memory
Much more than just a building, the Peninsular Athenaeum preserves within its walls the traces of a rich and layered history. These stories are told in the Site Museum, where stone structures seem to speak, whispering tales of overlapping eras. Every architectural feature of this space links the present to a vibrant past that still echoes across the Yucatán Peninsula.
1. From T’Hó to Mérida: A Meeting of Worlds
By 1542, T’Hó—once a grand Maya capital—had already seen its golden age. Its inhabitants lived among towering pyramids and temples gradually reclaimed by nature. Following the Spanish conquest, T’Hó was transformed into the city of Mérida, marking the beginning of a new era. Stones from the ancient Maya city were reused to build the new colonial center. Its layout included the Main Plaza, which became the heart of religious, military, and civil power, represented by the Episcopal Palace, the Royal Houses, and the Grand Convent of San Francisco.
2. The Episcopal Palace: Heart of Ecclesiastical Power
Between 1536 and 1573, the Episcopal Palace was built as the seat of ecclesiastical authority in Yucatán, a role it would play for nearly four centuries. The founding of the diocese in 1549 and the arrival of Bishop Fray Francisco del Toral in 1561 ushered in a time of tension between Franciscan friars, the bishop, and civil authorities. The palace stood not only as a symbol of religious dominance but also as a stage for struggles over political and social control.
3. The Cathedral of Yucatán: Seat of the Diocese
Inaugurated in 1598, the Cathedral of Yucatán became a monumental testament to faith and unity. Its construction—financed by encomenderos, the royal treasury, and the hard labor of Indigenous peoples—was carried out during the reign of Philip II. The cathedral established itself as the spiritual and clerical center of the region.
4. The Seminary of San Ildefonso: Enlightening the Clergy
Founded in 1751 by Bishop Fray Buenaventura Martínez de Tejada, the Seminary of San Ildefonso was dedicated to educating the secular clergy. Over time, it also became a cradle of liberal thought, counting among its students notable figures such as Lorenzo de Zavala and Andrés Quintana Roo. The seminary’s closure in 1867, as a result of the Reform Laws, marked a significant turning point in Yucatán’s educational history.
5. The Peninsular Athenaeum: From Control to Liberation
In 1915, the Episcopal Palace was seized and transformed into the Peninsular Athenaeum, redesigned in neoclassical style by architect Manuel Amabilis. This transformation embodied the triumph of revolutionary and liberal ideals over clerical control. The Pasaje de la Revolución (Revolution Passage), inaugurated in 1918 by Giacomo Piccone, became an architectural and ideological symbol of this shift.
6. The Arts and the Athenaeum
Since 1916, the Athenaeum became a beacon for the arts and education. The founding of the School of Fine Arts, offering training in drawing, painting, and sculpture, marked a cultural revival. In 1994, the building evolved once again, becoming the Museum of Contemporary Art of Yucatán (MACAY), a space dedicated to showcasing contemporary art from Mexico and around the world.
7. A Living Legacy
Today, the Site Museum of the Peninsular Athenaeum remains more than a historical monument. It stands as a witness to the cultural and social transformations that have shaped Yucatán. From the ancient city of T’Hó to the present day, this remarkable site holds centuries of history, serving as a living bridge between past and present—an enduring invitation to explore, reflect, and connect.
The Mayan worldview of the past and present is intertwined, modified, hidden, and radiant throughout the territory. The profound transformations of the region have changed thinking, and the landscape has been reinvented several times.
The Mayan worldview of the past and present is intertwined, modified, hidden, and radiant throughout the territory. The profound transformations of the region have changed thinking, and the landscape has been reinvented several times. However, the remains of these overlapping times are present in every public and private work carried out in the region.
In collaboration with the main authorities and universities of Yucatán, Campeche, and Quintana Roo, the National Institute of Anthropology and History, through its salvage and archaeology departments, ensures that each ancient layer is protected, seeking to preserve the memory of the original inhabitants and enrich the academic knowledge that specialists have about that past.
We are in the Ateneo Peninsular, a testament to the social transformations of contemporary Yucatán, which was preceded in physical space by the Episcopal Palace.
We are in the Ateneo Peninsular, a testament to the social transformations of contemporary Yucatán, which was preceded in physical space by the Episcopal Palace. Built in the 16th century in what was once one of the squares of the ceremonial and administrative enclosure of T'Ho, the Mayan capital city at the time of the conquest.
It became the seat of religious power for the church on the peninsula for almost four centuries. Until 1915, when the Constitutionalist Army seized the building and built the Ateneo Peninsular on top of it.
The remains of T'ho were used to build the city of Mérida. The interventions carried out in the first blocks of the city have brought to light fragments of that past which, when studied, recorded, and exhibited, allow us to glimpse traces of its original thinking.
Foundations of a new order
Francisco de Montejo, “El Mozo,” led the conquest of the peninsula on behalf of his father, “El Adelantado.” After several defeats at the hands of the Maya, he managed to pacify the northeastern region and founded Mérida on January 6, 1542, on the site of the Maya city.
The population consisted of seventy Spanish settlers accompanied by indigenous people from the center of the country whom the conquistador brought from his encomienda in what is now central Mexico, Mayans with whom they formed alliances, and fifty African slaves.
It belonged to the Convent of San Francisco de Mérida. From this enclosure, the Franciscan Province of San José de Yucatán directed the evangelizing work on the peninsula for three centuries, until its closure in compliance with the civil provisions of 1821. The Franciscans monopolized evangelization until the consolidation of the secular clergy led by the bishop.
2.3. Diego de Landa (1524-1579)
In 1562, he presided over the auto-da-fé of Maní, in which hundreds of Mayan idols were destroyed, acting beyond his authority with severity against the Indians. Investigated by the Council of the Indies, he was acquitted and returned to Yucatán as bishop in 1573 after Toral's death.
The first settlers on the peninsula saw their dreams of riches dashed by the poor soil and pinned their hopes for material improvement on the favors the king would grant them for their work with the region's indigenous people. Mérida emerged from the ancient stones of the Mayan city.
The first settlers on the peninsula saw their dreams of riches dashed by the poor soil and pinned their hopes for material improvement on the favors the king would grant them for their work with the region's indigenous people. Mérida emerged from the ancient stones of the Mayan city.
The Order of St. Francis arrived in Yucatán in 1545 to found the Convento Grande de San Francisco, from where they dominated evangelization efforts for three centuries. The southern block of the Main Square was designated as the home of the conquistador, the northern block as the seat of the Royal Houses, representatives of the civil power of the crown, and the eastern block for the construction of the Cathedral and the bishop's house: the Episcopal Palace.
The Spanish crown was responsible for royal patronage, which influenced the appointment of bishops in its domains and, in practice, the territorialization of the diocese, the main administrative unit of the Catholic Church.
The Spanish crown was responsible for royal patronage, which influenced the appointment of bishops in its domains and, in practice, the territorialization of the diocese, the main administrative unit of the Catholic Church.
Establishing Catholicism in the new territories was, along with military conquest, a priority for the monarchy, in order to consolidate and legitimize the new American possessions before the rest of the European powers.
The foundations of spiritual power
The Diocese of Yucatán is considered to have been founded in 1549. Fray Francisco del Toral, the first bishop, arrived in 1561, marking a new stage in the evangelization process. Under his jurisdiction were the doctrines founded by the Franciscans, which had been converted into parishes, pitting the friars against the bishop for centuries.
The bishop took a stand against the secular council of Mérida because of the poor treatment that the encomenderos gave to the natives. This was the beginning of the confrontation between the bishopric, the Franciscans, and the civil government of the province for control of the population.
Montejo chose the eastern section of the Plaza for the construction of the main church, in accordance with the tradition that the temple should face west.
Montejo chose the eastern section of the Plaza for the construction of the main church, in accordance with the tradition that the temple should face west.
The bull creating the bishopric of Yucatán was issued on November 19, 1561, by Pius IV, under the patronage of San Ildefonso, Archbishop of Toledo. It was then that the bull of creation of the cathedral was granted, dated December 16, 1561. The seat of the diocese is the space from which the bishop gives the sermon with which he guides his flock.
When the first bishop arrived, the main church in Mérida was a makeshift temple: "As this church was not yet finished, the Spaniards gathered for Mass, sermons, and divine services in another old church, borrowed and covered with straw, which was then the cathedral.
Yucatán Cathedral, seat of the diocese
The cost of building the cathedral was divided into thirds between the royal treasury, the encomenderos, and the Indians, but it was the latter who contributed the most by providing labor and materials. The inscription on the dome reads: “Reigning in Spain and the Eastern and Western Indies, His Majesty King Philip II, and being governor and captain general in his place lieutenant of these provinces, Don Diego Fernández de Velazco, this work was completed. Juan Miguel de Agüero was the master builder, in the year 1598.”
The Conciliar Seminary for an enlightened clergy
Consolidating the secular clergy required a center for priestly training. Bishop Fray Buenaventura Martinez de Tejada began construction of the Conciliar Seminary. To this end, he ceded the gardens and courtyards of the Episcopal Palace. The seminary was founded by decree of King Ferdinand VI on March 24, 1751.
The classrooms became a hotbed of liberal youth at the end of the 18th century. Figures such as Lorenzo de Zavala and Andrés Quintana Roo emerged from its classrooms. It closed its doors after the restoration of the republic in 1867 in compliance with the Reform Laws.
Crescencio Carrillo y Ancona (1837–1897)
Distinguished historian and bishop. He worked throughout the 1890s to convert the diocese into an archdiocese. It was not until 1906 that the elevation took place. Interested in history, he assembled a collection of pieces that formed the first Yucatecan Museum.
Creation and liberation
Liberalism began to take shape in Yucatán at the end of the 18th century. Later, these “Sanjuanistas,” named for their meetings in the church of San Juan, became the principal officials of the City Council that emerged from the Constitution of Cádiz of 1812, a magna carta issued during the French invasion of Spain that resulted in the absence of King Ferdinand VII.
With the triumph of the Mexican liberal project, following the defeat of the Second Empire, liberal groups were formed throughout the country under the name “Ateneo,” evoking Greek knowledge. With the arrival of Salvador Alvarado to the Yucatecan government, a new Ateneo Peninsular emerged, whose objective was the development of liberal and revolutionary ideas in science and art in opposition to clerical positions.
Peninsular Athenaeum Society. The start of operations
The activities of the Peninsular Athenaeum Society were lavishly inaugurated in early January 1916 with three days of celebrations that included a literary evening at the Peón Contreras Theater and sporting events on Paseo de Montejo. The improvement was not only to be intellectual but also physical.
As a project born of Alvarado, the Society only received financial support during his administration, and when he left office in the last days of 1917, it soon disappeared.
Construction of the Ateneo, revolutionary triumph
The Ateneo Peninsular and the Pasaje de la Revolución are a complex that embodies, in public space, the triumph of the Constitutionalist Revolution. Having defeated the rebel troops in Halachó and Blanca Flor, the constitutionalists entered Mérida on March 19, 1915.
The building, then the Archbishop's Palace, was seized in June 1915 along with the city's Catholic schools and churches.
Archbishop Martín Tritschler was in Cuba, alarmed by the effects of constitutionalism on the interests of the church and the arrest of priests.
Manuel Amabilis and the Ateneo Peninsular (1884-1966)
The neoclassical design that would replace the Episcopal Palace, the Ateneo Peninsular, was created by this Yucatecan graduate of the Paris School of Architecture. He was in charge of the work until the end of 1916, laying the formal foundations of the building.
Giacomo Piccone and the Passage of the Revolution (1860-1924)
The demolition of the chapels that connected the Palace to the Cathedral symbolized the break with the ideological dominance of the clergy. The design of the “Passage of the Revolution” was carried out by Italian architect Giacommo Piccone. The complex was inaugurated on May 1, 1918.
After the inauguration, it was awarded to the Society of the same name, and to other activities related to intellectual creation and development.
After the inauguration, it was awarded to the Society of the same name, and to other activities related to intellectual creation and development.
The Ateneo's Department of Plastic Arts proposed the establishment of a School of Fine Arts to remedy the lack of this type of education in the state. Governor Alvarado joined this initiative, and on January 24, 1916, the State School of Fine Arts was founded. In mid-1918, the School of Fine Arts was established, offering courses in drawing, painting, and sculpture.
Since April 29, 1994, it has housed the MACAY Museum, dedicated to promoting national and international contemporary art.
The exhibition “Por las vías del Salvamento, sendero del tiempo” (Along the tracks of salvation, the path of time) displays the archaeological finds from the Mayan Train project along its seven sections, showing the enormous expanse of territory from which they originate and, through seven themes
The exhibition “Por las vías del Salvamento, sendero del tiempo” (Along the tracks of salvation, the path of time) displays the archaeological finds from the Mayan Train project along its seven sections, showing the enormous expanse of territory from which they originate and, through seven themes, the general implications they have for our understanding of the culture.
The Mayan Train was not only conceived as a modern means of transport and communication, its route also takes on a cultural journey that connects the present with the legacy of the Mayan civilization. This project, supported by the National Institute of Anthropology and History (INAH), focused on the conservation of archaeological heritage, its study, and, with exhibitions such as this one, its dissemination. It mainly deals with rural impacts on the remains of pre-Hispanic populations.
The explorations were divided into seven sections. They focused on recovering and recording all archaeological remains found along the route of the tracks. Work was carried out on a route that would have the least possible impact, predominantly in peripheral, unpopulated, or rural areas. A parallel program, PROMEZA (Program for the Improvement of Archaeological Zones), consolidated the exploration and conservation of emblematic sites located in the vicinity of the route, providing a window into the millennial splendor of Mayan culture. Research and recovery efforts were strengthened in 32 important cities, 23 of which are listed along the entire central corridor of the exhibition.
This selection of images was taken from the INAH's 100 exhibition, organized by its Media Department.
