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The National Museum of Anthropology, located in Chapultepec Park, houses the invaluable testimonies of Mexican Indian culture from both ancient and modern times. It was inaugurated on 17 September 1964 during the presidency of Lic. Adolfo López Mateos. The project was realized under the direction of the architect Pedro Ramírez Vázquez, assisted by the architects Rafael Mijares and Jorge Campuzano, who, together with numerous specialists, technicians and craftsmen, created an institution that is far more than a simple showcase of objects, but rather an extraordinary example of modern didactic museography — both sensitive and monumental. The museum contains twenty-three permanent galleries: twelve archaeological halls on the ground floor corresponding to the great achievements of the pre-Hispanic civilizations, and eleven ethnographic halls on the upper floor devoted to the contemporary indigenous population, presented in a comprehensive and meaningful manner. In addition, an orientation hall in the main lobby provides a panoramic overview of the ancient cultures of Mexico.