MUSA Museo Subacuático de Arte

MUSA, the Museo Subacuático de Arte, is Cancún's most original attraction: a collection of more than 500 permanent sculptures set on the seabed of the national marine park between Cancún and Isla Mujeres. Work began in 2009 and the museum officially opened in November 2010. It was conceived by the marine park's director, Jaime González Cano, together with Roberto Díaz Abraham, and commissioned by the park and the Cancún Nautical Association.

The idea is practical as well as artistic. The reefs off Cancún receive heavy visitor traffic, so the sculptures were placed downstream of the natural reefs to give coral larvae somewhere new to settle and to draw some of the snorkellers and divers away from the stressed living reef. The figures are made from pH-neutral cement, stainless steel and basalt, and the Silent Evolution reef alone is now home to more than 2,000 juvenile corals.

The best-known piece is The Silent Evolution by the British sculptor Jason deCaires Taylor, a crowd of more than 400 life-size people modelled on around 90 residents of Puerto Morelos. Other works by Taylor include Inertia, a man slumped on a sofa in front of a television; The Bankers, kneeling figures with cavities where crustaceans and eels now live; Reclamation, an angel whose wings are made of rescued sea fans; and Anthropocene, a cast of a Volkswagen Beetle that shelters lobsters.

There are two galleries. Manchones, near Isla Mujeres, holds the large majority of the sculptures and sits at around eight metres, so it suits divers and confident snorkellers. Punta Nizuc, at the southern tip of the Hotel Zone, is shallower at around four metres and is for snorkelling only. Non-swimmers can see the work from glass-bottom boats. Both galleries are offshore, so visits are made by boat with a dive shop or tour operator.

The museum suits most ages: children who can snorkel enjoy spotting the figures, while divers get the fullest view at Manchones. Use reef-safe sunscreen or a rash vest, as you are entering a protected marine park. On land, a small visitor centre at Plaza Kukulcán in the Hotel Zone shows replicas of some sculptures and an original ceramic piece, The Ocean Muse, worth a look before or after a trip out to the reef.