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Photo: Thelmadatter, CC BY-SA 3.0 via Wikimedia Commons
This museum managed by the Medicine Faculty of the National University shows the history of health care in Mexico. Features a great replica of an old pharmacy and reconstructed labs of influential medical researchers. Signage is in Spanish only. It is housed in the Inquisition Palace, built between 1732 and 1737, which was the head office of the Holy Inquisition, the religious authority famous for torturing heretic people.
The Palace of the Inquisition is a building in Mexico City built in the 1730s as the headquarters of the Mexican Inquisition, which now houses the Museum of Mexican Medicine. The building stands at the junction of República de Brasil and República de Venezuela streets, with its entrance at a canted corner facing Santo Domingo Plaza. When the Inquisition was abolished after the Mexican War of Independence, the building's association made it difficult to convert to other purposes. It eventually became the School of Medicine for the reconstructed National University, now the National Autonomous University of Mexico (UNAM). When UNAM moved to the Ciudad Universitaria in the 1950s, it retained ownership of the building, eventually converting it into the museum it is today.
© OpenStreetMap contributors
The second largest square in Centro Histórico after the Zócalo. It is surrounded by various important buildings such as the Palacio de la Inquisición, Santo Domingo convent and the old Customs House.
formerly Secretaría de Educación Pública/Ministry of Public Education
This museum is housed in a former convent from 1729 that later became headquarters for the Education Secretariat. In 1923, the department commissioned the up-and-coming Diego Rivera to decorate the building with 124 mural panels, extending over two city blocks and filling three levels. There are elaborate panels of traditional Mexican life on the ground floor, state seals on the second floor, and themes of revolution and class inequality on the third level. There is also a David Alfaro Siqueiros mural in the main stairwell. In 2024, the building became a museum dedicated to Mexican murals, with additional exhibits. Photography permitted, no flash.
La Enseñanza Church
Tucked away on a side street, this very narrow gem of a church was built in the 1770s and is notable for being an outstanding example of Mexican Churrigueresque architecture. Even more remarkable than the façade, however, are the nine gilt retablos inside.
Caricature Museum
Depicting the history of Mexican cartoons (political and amusing cartoons).
CCEMx / Cultural Center of Spain in Mexico
This is the official cultural center from the Spanish Embassy and features temporary exhibits.
Housed in the historic 16th-century Casa de las Ajaracas, it is a rare survivor on a street that has seen other historic structures knocked down to explore the Templo Mayor site. The museum is home to a huge collection of historical photographs from the 19th, 20th and 21st centuries, documenting the constantly changing cityscape of Mexico City.