Mexico Guide
Acapulco and the Pacific beaches
Museo de Acapulco
Opening time: Tues– Sun 9.30am–6pm
Price: M$35, free on Sun
About the only place in Acapulco that gives even the slightest sense of the historic role the city played in Mexico's past is the Museo de Acapulco in the old town. It's situated inside the Fuerte de San Diego, an impressive, if heavily restored, star-shaped fort built in 1616 to protect the Manila galleons from foreign corsairs but severely damaged by an earthquake in the eighteenth century. The building's limited success in defending the city against pirate attacks is charted inside the museum, where displays also extend to the spread of Christianity by proselytizing religious orders, Mexico's struggle for independence from Spain and a small anthropological collection. Air-conditioned rooms make this a good place to ride out the midday heat, and you can pop up on the roof for superb views over Acapulco. The only other cultural diversion in the centre is on Cerro de la Pinzona, near La Quebrada, where a mural by famous Mexican artist Diego Rivera covers the entire outside wall of the house of his former model and partner, Dolores Olmedo. The work, made of seashells and coloured tiles, depicts various figures from Aztec mythology, although the hammer and sickle in the original (Rivera was a communist) was removed on government orders.