The Indian Pueblo Cultural Center , at 2401 12th St NW, one block north of I-40 (daily 9am5.30pm; $4; tel 505/843-7270 or 1-800/766-4405, www.indianpueblo.org ), is a stunning museum and crafts market owned and run as a cooperative venture by the diverse Pueblo Indians of New Mexico. Its horseshoe-shaped design deliberately echoes the architecture of the Ancestral Puebloan city of Pueblo Bonito, in Chaco Canyon, and the central courtyard is the venue for free Pueblo dances, every Saturday and Sunday at 11am and 2pm.
This is New Mexico's one major museum about Native Americans curated by Native Americans, and the displays downstairs have a clear and distinct point of view. The shared Ancestral Puebloan heritage at the root of Pueblo culture is explained in detail, as is the impact of the Spanish conquistadors. Describing the Pueblo Revolt of 1680 as the "first civil war," it states that by allowing the defeated Spaniards to leave unharmed, the Pueblo peoples "showed them more mercy than they showed us." There's also as good an explanation as you're ever likely to get of a topic Pueblo Indians rarely discuss with outsiders: how indigenous Pueblo religion has managed to coexist with imported Catholicism. Videos illustrate modern Pueblo life, and the stores upstairs sell outstanding pottery and jewelry. A good-quality caf serves assorted Pueblo specialties.