Clues and presence of Cabinets of Curiosities within the libraries of New Spain

The custom of collecting objects goes back to the most ancient times of humanity. However, the origin of Western museums can often be seen in the studiolo of the humanist libraries of 15th century Italy. Later, these studiolo would become the “cabinets of curiosities” that arrived in our America, being some of them, within our viceroyalty libraries. Similar to the European cabinets, but not the same, the New Spanish cabinets had their regional singularities as Mexican antiquities were exhibited inside them instead of the Greco-Roman ones that were used to collect in the Old World.