Instituto Nacional de Antropología e Historia

The Instituto Nacional de Antropología e Historia (INAH, National Institute of Anthropology and History) is a Mexican federal government bureau established in 1939 to guarantee the research, preservation, protection, and promotion of the prehistoric, archaeological, anthropological, historical, and paleontological heritage of Mexico.

INAH and the Instituto Nacional de Bellas Artes y Literatura are tasked with cataloging and protecting monuments and buildings regarded as cultural patrimony.

[1] Worthy edifices are catalogued in the Registro Público de Monumentos y Zonas Arqueológicos e Históricos (Public Register of Archeological and Historic Monuments and Zones).

[1] Currently, the INAH carries out its work through a Technical Secretariat which supervises the performance of its main duties and whose tasks are distributed among its seven National Coordination Offices and 31 Regional Centers throughout the states of the Mexico.

This bureau is responsible for the over 110,000 historical monuments, built between the 16th and 19th centuries, and for 29,000 of Mexico's estimated 200,000 pre-Columbian archeological zones found throughout the country.