The Picuris Pueblo Museum exists to share the Pueblo's voice and sustain its traditions, stories, and artistic practices. As a community-centered museum, we seek to be a site of social and cultural engagement for Picuris members.
The people of Picuris Pueblo have a deep and enduring connection to this landscape. Perched in the foothills of the Sangre de Cristo Mountains, the community's presence has been dated via radiocarbon dating to at least the 10th century.
In the early 17th century, Picuris was one of the largest pueblos with a population of over 3000 residents. After playing a pronounced role in the 1680 Pueblo revolt against Spanish Colonialism, Picuris suddenly became one of the smallest with just over 3000 enrolled members today. "We may be small in size today, but we are still those thousands of people and we represent them."
Today, the government of Picuris is dedicated to serving its community and maintaining its strong cultural heritage.
This exhibit showcases the remarkable reach of Picuris's ancestral roots and the world of future possibilities that are unfolding as Picuris balances tradition with innovation. Telling the story of Picuris as it was in the past and as it is now, the current exhibit spans the history of the Pueblo, from its long-standing presence on ancestral lands to Picuris' key involvement in the Pueblo Revolt, and to the contemporary art production within the Pueblo.
First opened in July, 1969, the museum was largely designed by Herbert Dick, a Harvard-trained archeologist. Housing exhibits and the Hidden Valley restaurant (famous for its Picuris bison burger) the Picuris Museum was a source of community pride.
Shuttered in the late 1990s, the museum reopened in 2025 and is undergoing continual expansion. Picuris is the most excavated pueblo in New Mexico, with excavations occurring most summers. These excavations continue to expand the museum's collections.
Plans for future expansions include the opening of more galleries, a community space, and a new collections space, as well as the repatriation of tribal artifacts and acquisitions of contemporary tribal members' works of art. To support the PPMIC please reach out to museum.director@picurispueblo.org.
