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Photo: Thelmadatter, Public domain via Wikimedia Commons
Managed by the National University, this museum features some stunning murals and hosts great permanent and temporary art exhibits.
Colegio de San Ildefonso, currently is a museum and cultural center in Mexico City, considered to be the birthplace of the Mexican Muralism movement. San Ildefonso began as a prestigious Jesuit boarding school, and after the Reform War it gained educational prestige again as National Preparatory School. This school and the building closed completely in 1978, then reopened as a museum and cultural center in 1992. The museum has permanent and temporary art and archeological exhibitions in addition to the many murals painted on its walls by José Clemente Orozco, Fernando Leal, Diego Rivera, and others. The complex is located between San Ildefonso Street and Justo Sierra Street in the historic center of Mexico City.
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This excellent four-story museum was designed by Mexican architect Pedro Ramírez Vázquez, and built in 1987 to showcase the many artifacts found on the site. Highlights include the Coyolxauhqui disc as well as the many thousands of offerings found during the still-ongoing excavation.
The site of the main Aztec temple of Tenochtitlan, it was destroyed by Spanish conquistadors in 1521, who then promptly erected the Cathedral roughly over it – but not quite. Centuries later, nearly completely forgotten, its actual location was discovered by accident in 1978 when electrical workers found a piece of a large stone disc depicting the goddess Coyolxauhqui. This set off a few furious years of archaeological digging, resulting in a rather surprising (and extremely significant) discovery that nested underneath the original Aztec temple was six distinct smaller, older temples. You can see each layer walking through the dig site.
Museum of Light
Managed by the National University, this museum is mostly for students on everything to do with light (photography, electricity, vision, etc).
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.
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.
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.