Deceased Te Papa chief executive Seddon Bennington is to be honoured by the Mexican Embassy as part of a national holiday.
Dr Bennington and his tramping companion, Marcella Jackson, died of hypothermia, when they left a tramping track in the Tararua Range on July 15 in heavy snow.
With the blessing of Dr Bennington's family, the embassy will honour his memory as part of celebrations for the El Dia de los Muertos (The Day of the Dead), a Mexican national holiday.As part of the holiday, an occasion when the dead are believed to return to visit their families, Mexican families set up an altar in their homes to honour a special person who has died.
The embassy said it had chosen to honour Dr Bennington on this occasion because of his close ties to the embassy, both on a professional and personal level, and his passion for Mexican culture.Dr Bennington was instrumental in establishing an international exhibition of treasures from the Aztec empire to be held at Te Papa in 2011.
An altar had been set up in the embassy's art gallery and was open to the public.
