Cuernavaca Traditional Medicine and Herbalism Museum reopens

The Museum of Traditional Medicine and Herbalism in Cuernavaca has reopened following a nine-year closure caused by structural damage from the 2017 earthquake. Located within the Ethnobotanical Garden in the Acapantzingo neighborhood, the museum is housed in a historic estate built by Emperor Maximilian in 1866.

The new museum layout features nine thematic windows based on forty years of participatory research conducted in the Mexican states of Morelos, Guerrero, Puebla, Veracruz, and Oaxaca. The exhibition aims to connect plant life with community knowledge and cultural contexts, highlighting the contemporary relevance and challenges of herbalism rather than treating it solely as folklore.

Managed by the National Institute of Anthropology and History (INAH) in Morelos, the renovation is part of a broader restructuring of the Ethnobotanical Garden. The museum uses graphic resources and interactive elements to demonstrate how traditional knowledge is preserved and transmitted.