Museo Regional del Sureste de Petén

The Museo Regional del Sureste de Petén, also known as the Museo Regional del Sureste de Petén Doctor Juan Pedro Laporte Molina, is an archaeological museum in the town of Dolores in the Petén Department of Guatemala. Located 82 kilometres southeast of Flores, the departmental capital, it sits among the Maya Mountains in an area exceptionally rich in archaeological sites. Founded in 2005, the museum is dedicated to preserving and displaying artefacts from the ancient Maya civilization excavated in the southeastern Petén region. It operates under the Atlas Arqueológico de Guatemala, a division of the Dirección General del Patrimonio Cultural y Natural within the Ministerio de Cultura y Deportes. The museum serves as both a research centre and public institution, offering free admission to visitors and functioning as a crucial guardian of Maya Fla heritage in a region where many archaeological sites remain underexplored.

The museum's origins trace to 1998, when the Dirección General de Caminos (Highways Department) proposed its construction as part of a highway project from San Luis to Flores, intended to offset damage to Guatemala's cultural heritage caused by road construction. That same year, land was donated for the purpose, originally the site of the first municipal council seat. Construction began in December 1999 and the building was completed in November 2000. In 2001, the Dirección General de Caminos officially transferred the building to the Ministerio de Cultura y Deportes. Meanwhile, in 2000, the Atlas Arqueológico de Guatemala had petitioned the Agencia Española de Cooperación Internacional for funding to restore excavated artefacts for display. The Spanish agency approved the request, enabling the Atlas Arqueológico to contract archaeologists from Tikal National Park to undertake two years of restoration work. The museum officially opened to the public on 17 March 2005. On 21 April 2010, the Ministerio de Cultura y Deportes issued Acuerdo Ministerial Número 383-2010, designating the museum with the name Doctor Juan Pedro Laporte Molina in posthumous honour of the archaeologist widely regarded as the father of Guatemalan archaeology.

The museum's collection consists of approximately 125 ceramic pieces and eight stone sculptures, with additional artefacts crafted from shell and bone. The display is organised chronologically by period, spanning from the Late Preclassic through the Postclassic, covering roughly 900 BC to 1524 AD. The geographical scope extends well beyond the municipality of Dolores to include pieces from La Libertad, Melchor de Mencos, Poptún, San Luis, Santa Ana, and San Francisco. Twenty-two archaeological sites are represented, among them Calzada Mopan, Copoja, Curucuitz, El Chal, El Ocote, El Reinado, Itzimte, Ix Ak, Ixcoxol, Ix Ek, Ixkun, Ixtonton, Ixtutz, La Gloria-Sacul, Limones, Machaquila, Maringa, Pueblito, Sacul, Suk Che, Ucanal, and Yaltutu. The collection also incorporates materials recovered from the caves of Aktun Ak'ab, Balam Na, and El Chapayal. This regional breadth distinguishes the museum as a repository for materials from numerous lesser-known sites that rarely feature in major institutional collections.

Among the museum's significant artefacts, three pieces are documented with particular detail. A flat-based ceramic bowl (catalogue number PSPA-507) of the Saxche variety, Saxche Naranja Polychrome type, from the Palmar-Danta ceramic group, was excavated from Group 9 at Suk Che' in association with a burial and dated to the Late Classic Period. A ceramic vase (PSPA-625) from Curucuitz, found buried in the North Structure of Group 24 with a burial, represents the Paixban variety of the Paixban Ante Polychrome type within the Zacatal-Joyac ceramic group, also Late Classic. The most extensively described piece is a ceramic vase (PSPA-708) from Sacul, of the Palmar variety, Palmar-Naranja Polychrome type, Palmar-Danta ceramic group, dated to the Late Classic. This vessel served as a chocolate drinking cup and was a funerary offering in Burial 193, interred before Structure 1 of Group 26. Its painted scene depicts the tonsured maize god in a lunar aspect carrying a rabbit, seated on a throne decorated with a celestial band, with three pulque jars below. Two rows of supernatural beings sit before the throne, including two versions of God N and a man-bird hybrid. A dedicatory hieroglyphic text around the rim identifies it as the drinking vessel of a lord of Naranjo.

The museum building comprises exhibition halls, administrative offices, a warehouse, guardroom, sanitary services, and a community hall. The structure was purpose-built for museum use, with construction completed in November 2000 after beginning in December 1999. The site itself occupies land with historical significance as the former location of the first seat of the municipal council in Dolores. The surrounding region is characterised by dense jungle and the Maya Mountains, with the museum positioned strategically amid numerous archaeological sites. Some sources additionally describe an outdoor archaeological park with reconstructed Maya structures and stelae set among trees, though this feature is not uniformly documented across all accounts.

The museum is located in the centre of Dolores, a few blocks from the central park. Sources vary somewhat regarding operating hours: some indicate daily opening from 8:00 to 17:00, while others state Monday to Sunday from 9:00 to 16:00 or 9:00 to 17:00. Admission is free. The museum is administered by staff of the Atlas Arqueológico de Guatemala and operates under the Dirección General del Patrimonio Cultural y Natural of the Ministerio de Cultura y Deportes. Its mission centres on disseminating knowledge of Maya culture and heritage in the region, functioning as both a public educational institution and an active research centre. The town of Dolores lies approximately 82 kilometres from Flores, making the museum accessible to visitors travelling through the Petén Department, though it remains far less frequented than major sites such as Tikal.