The Pueblo of Zuni is the largest of the New Mexico pueblos, home to a community that has lived in this corner of the Southwest for thousands of years. It sits in a landscape of juniper- and piñon-studded mesas southwest of Grants and due south of Gallup, with the sacred Dowa Yalanne mesa rising nearby — a place deeply tied to Zuni history and identity.
Zuni was the first pueblo to make contact with European colonisers, when Coronado's expedition arrived in 1540 searching for the legendary Seven Cities of Gold. Despite more than four centuries of outside pressure, the Zuni people have maintained their language, religion and way of life with remarkable tenacity. Visitors are welcome but should respect the pueblo's rules about photography and access to ceremonial areas.
Start any visit at the A:shiwi A:wan Museum and Heritage Center, the tribally run museum that frames Zuni history on Zuni terms. Guided tours from the museum can take you through the old village and into the Mission of Our Lady of Guadalupe, with its remarkable twentieth-century Zuni murals. Zuni is also renowned for its jewellery and stone-inlay work — buying directly from artists in the pueblo is one of the best souvenirs in the Southwest.