Gran Museo Maya running at a deep deficit

museo  maya
The Gran Museo del Mundo Maya took top honors as a Leading Cultural Destination. Photo: XYZ

The Gran Museo del Mundo Maya is a triumph in many ways, none of them having to do with finances.

The website Mayaleaks reports that in 2015, the museum took in 7,660,694 pesos and paid expenses of 221,142,822 pesos.

The latter figure corresponds to payments the museum must make to the Yucatecan government each year until 2034.

When the complex was proposed, lawmakers were told in 2011 that the building would cost 411 million pesos and the annual payment to the state would be 33 million pesos. But Mayaleaks found documents indicating that the payment is almost sevenfold.

The next three governors after the current administration will have to bear this payment, notes Mayaleaks.

Even before the publication by Mayaleaks, no one had reported the actual cost of the Grand Museum, which opened in 2012.

Income last year breaks down like this: space rental, 849,115 pesos; entry tickets, 5,885,670 pesos; parking, 585,452 pesos; parking for renters, 10,517 pesos; and sales in the gift shop, 329,938 pesos; for a total of $7,660,694 pesos.

This means that the The Gran Museo del Mundo Maya has daily revenues of 20,988 pesos and daily expenses of 605,870 pesos.

Celebrating Maya culture, the Gran Museo houses more than 1,100 artifacts, including a reclining chac-mool sculpture from Chichén Itzá.

The contemporary building was designed in the form of a ceiba tree, which is sacred to Maya who believe it to connect the earth with the heavens. Now it seems the ceiba needs also to connect to more revenue.

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