Museo Nacional de la Máscara 3.54

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 largest in Mexico, and is almost entirely made of Mexican masks and dance costumes.The buildingThe building is a former mansion, located alongside the Plaza del Carmen in the historic center of San Luis Potosí. In the 1890s, Ramón Martí purchased five adjoining homes and demolished them to build his residence in Neo Classical style, designed by engineer Enrique Campos.Martí died in 1898, and his descendents sold the structure in 1903 to General Bernardo Reyes, a supporter of Porfirio Díaz. In 1907, it became federal property, acquiring the name of “Palacio Federal” (Federal Palace). From then until the 1980s it housed the Ministerio Público Federal (Federal Public Ministry), the Liga de Comunidades Agrarias (League of Agrarian Communities, the Consejo de Minería (Mining Council) and Telégrafos Nacionales de Mexico (National Telegraph of Mexico).In 1982, the structure was remodeled I by architect Fernando Valdez Lozano, with the aim of creating the current museum. The north facade was added in 1982, with the amplification of the Plaza del Carmen. Further rehabilitation of the structure became necessary when a 1998 study of the building revealed cracks from the structure’s sinking, threatening to split it in two. This work was carried out in 2008. In the same year, illumination of the building’s outer walls was added as part of a wider effort in the historic center.