Museo Arqueológico del Soconusco

The Archaeological Museum of the Soconusco fills part of an art deco building in central Tapachula, built in 1925-1926 as the city hall; the museum's wing was first meant to be a jail. It opened in 1988 and is run by INAH. Its subject is the ancient past of this Pacific coastal strip, whose cacao tied it to trade across Mesoamerica.

The collection runs to just over 600 pieces, 289 of them on show, in five permanent rooms and one for temporary exhibitions. The first holds stelae and monoliths from Izapa, the great ceremonial centre a few kilometres outside the city. Then come the first settlers, the Mokaya, with finds from the shell middens (concheros) left by early fishing people in the estuaries; the Olmec presence in the Soconusco; a room on Izapa and its objects; and finally Aztec rule, when the towns of the region paid tribute to Tenochtitlan.

It pairs well with a trip to Izapa itself: the carved scenes you see weathered on site make more sense after a look here. There is a bookshop. Food, smoking, pets and flash photography are not allowed, and professional cameras pay an extra fee.