Tulum: Mureco offers children the opportunity to be archaeologists

From the Editorial Staff

La Jornada Newspaper, Monday, May 5, 2025, p. 4

At the Museo Regional de la Costa Oriental (Mureco) in Tulum, Quintana Roo, a space was set up to recreate an archaeological excavation so children can be guided by specialists in research and respect for cultural heritage.

The area includes a children's sandbox with an archaeological theme, the purpose of which is to involve families from the state and national and international tourists in the knowledge, respect, and conservation of cultural heritage , according to a statement from the National Institute of Anthropology and History.

In four square meters, about 10 visitors can experience an archaeological excavation of 15 replicas of vessels and bone remains.

The installation was made possible thanks to the coordinated efforts of Mureco's director, Carmen Gaitán Rojo, who received support from the Tulum Business Alliance and the INAH Quintana Roo Center, headed by Margarito Molina.

More than just a recreational attraction, the sandpit seeks to sow seeds of curiosity, identity, and historical awareness in its participants , Gaitán explained.

He added that the initiative responds to museums' need to share knowledge as an immersive, accessible, relatable, and experiential experience.

Activities like this not only foster cognitive skills, such as observation, classification, and analysis, but also fundamental values, such as respect for history, patience, teamwork, and the importance of heritage conservation.

Each child takes on the role of an archaeologist, using playful tools to excavate, record, and reflect on their findings. They then fill out record sheets, written in simple language, and learn the details of the objects they found.

The sandpit is held every two weeks, and its sessions will be broadcast on the venue's social media channels.

▲ In the 126-square-meter mural, Julio Ferrá (pictured left) portrays the 13.8 billion-year epic that gave rise to our planet. That's millions of years; it was very difficult to summarize this entire story in just a few images , he shared. Photo by María Luisa Severiano

Angel Vargas

La Jornada Newspaper, Monday, May 5, 2025, p. 5

Mexican muralism is experiencing a new boom, says Julio Ferrá Calzada, who has practiced this artistic expression as an author and teacher for more than four decades.

To argue this, he highlights the large number of recently created works located in various locations in the nation's capital, in addition to asserting that there is growing interest in this discipline among new generations of artists.

I've taught mural painting techniques to more than 200 young people. But many young people are already working. This is largely thanks to the (government) support that, for better or worse, is being provided , he notes.

Let's hope this continues, although recently one of my students told me that their salaries were cut and they're being kept painting for meters and meters to make the authorities' mouths water about how they're implementing social programs.

Born in Tapachula, Chiapas, in 1963, the painter and teacher is the author of the mural History of Planet Earth and its Inhabitants, in the Geology Museum of the National Autonomous University of Mexico (UNAM), located at Jaime Torres Bodet 176, Santa María la Ribera neighborhood.

In it, he portrays the 13.8 billion-year epic that gave rise to our planet, from the formation and expansion of the universe with the Big Bang to the geological eras that the Earth has traversed in its nearly 4.6 billion years.

Made of acrylic—as part of the Tax Administration Service (SAT) Payment in Kind Program of the Ministry of Finance and Public Credit—it consists of 28 panels measuring 3 meters long by 1.5 meters high, which together cover 126 square meters.

Each segment is narratively interconnected; they feature images alluding to situations or elements from the Precambrian, Paleozoic, Mesozoic, and Cenozoic eras, from volcanic eruptions, the first single-celled organisms and plants, and the emergence and extinction of the dinosaurs, to the rise of the first hominids and their evolution into the human species.

It's been millions of years; it was very difficult to summarize this entire story in a few images, but the idea is to give a concise and educational overview of the fascinating life of our planet leading up to the emergence of humans , the painter notes.

Julio Ferrá is convinced of the social role of murals as a communication and educational tool, even when they address allegorical or abstract themes.

Note: It's one thing to approach a wall with a historical theme that has to be true, and another to approach it with a fantasy theme, although, at some point, all fantasy and all abstraction are born from reality. So, even fiction has something to teach .

In an interview, he explains that the themes are determined, in most cases, by the space the works occupy. For example, he mentions that in the murals he has created in five penitentiary centers in the country (including the North, East, and South prisons), he has sought to inspire inmates through allegories related to work and effort.

The idea is to motivate them to become better individuals and to participate in building a better society , emphasizes the artist, who has lost count of the number of murals he has created to date.

I've painted in all kinds of places. From cemeteries to prisons, kindergartens, universities, fire stations, markets... you name it. In primary and secondary schools alone, there must be around 350 murals I've created; with students, another 120 or 150.

His interest in this artistic field began as a child, influenced by David Alfaro Siqueiros, who was a friend of his grandmother, he says. However, he owes the decisive step to a premonitory dream in his youth.

I dreamed I was kissing a strange woman whom I later met at a friend's house. Surprisingly, she told me she'd had the same dream about me. After I told her I painted, she invited me to do a mural at one of the SOS Children's Villages, where they care for children. I finished the work and never saw her again; I was 18.

Since then, muralism has been the life of this artist, whose training was self-taught, as he admits that school was never his thing. He explained that it was very laid-back , and he became a father at 19.