Casa Na Bolom, hotel
Casa Na Bolom is a hotel and museum in San Cristóbal de las Casas, housed in a late 19th-century residential building in the Cerrillo neighborhood. The property has rooms with fireplaces, a garden, a library, and several exhibition spaces displaying photographs, artifacts, and documents related to Lacandon indigenous communities.
The building was constructed in 1891 as a seminary and later bought and restored by Frans Blom, a Danish archaeologist, and Gertrude Duby Blom, a Swiss photographer who dedicated decades to documenting Lacandon life. After Gertrude died in 1993, the property was turned into a public space to preserve their work.
The name Na Bolom comes from the Lacandon language and means House of the Jaguar, a reference to the surname Blom. Throughout the rooms and corridors, visitors can see photographs, textiles, and handmade objects that document the daily life of indigenous Lacandon communities.
The house is in the Cerrillo neighborhood and can be reached on foot from Santo Domingo Church in roughly 10 minutes. Mornings in San Cristóbal can be cool, so bringing layers is a good idea, especially when visiting the garden or sitting areas.
A large canoe carved from a single tree trunk sits in the garden, believed to be a gift from the Lacandon people to the founders of the house. It is one of the few tangible signs of the bond that connected this community to the couple who spent their lives documenting them.
The community of curious travelers
AroundUs brings together thousands of curated places, local tips, and hidden gems, enriched daily by 60,000 contributors worldwide.
