Sto. Domingo Cultural Center - The Regional Museum
The museum occupies what was once a Dominican convent. The building dates from the sixteenth century and is one of the most important architectural and artistic structures built in New Spain. The museum has an excellent collection of artifacts from the Zapotec and Mixtec cultures, including the fabulous treasure found in Tomb 7 on Monte Albán, as well as rooms devoted to the ethnography and history of Oaxaca.

Open: 10am to 6:15pm - Mex$45
M. Alcalá

Magnificent cloister houses historical displays including the treasures from Tomb 7 at Monte Alban as well as temporary exhibits. Free on Sunday.

Ethnobotanical Garden Tours
Weekly - Tues. & Thur.
11am - Mex$50 Entrance Reforma & Constitution

The only way to see this fabulous garden is on a tour. These tours are in English. There are tours in Spanish at 10, 12 & 4 on weekdays and Saturday at 10. Sign up well in advance as the English tours are very popular. If you can't get into an English tour I suggest taking the Spanish just to see the garden.

The Museum of the Casa de Juárez
The museum is lodged in a colonial house on 609 García Vigil (in front of the Church of Carmen Alta), which belonged to Señor Antonio Salanueva. It is presently known as the Casa de Juarez because Salanueva took Benito Juárez (one of Mexico's most important presidents) in when he first arrived from Guelatao in 1818. The modest colonial building was remodeled and transformed into a historical museum, which opened on 28 December 1974. The rooms contain everyday nineteenth-century objects and furniture and an encuadernación (bookbinding) shop that contains presses and bookbinding tools. There are some documents on exhibit from the War of Independence, the Reformation, and the French Intervention. Some of Benito Juárez's personal belongings are displayed.

The Rufino Tamayo Museum of Prehispanic Art
The eighteenth-century colonial house, La Villarraza (also known as La Luz), was formerly the state archive and now houses 800 prehispanic pieces, which were donated in 1974 by the Oaxacan painter Rufino Tamayo.

pen: 10 am to 7 pm -
Morelos 503 Centro Historico.

Fine collection of antiquities. Closed 2-4 and Tuesday. Sunday hours 10-3

The Museum of Contemporary Art (MACO)
The building that houses the museum is commonly known as the House of Cortés, although the conquistador Hernán Cortés (the Marqués del Valle de Oaxaca) could never have seen the house, which dates from the end of the seventeenth and the beginnings of the eighteenth century. This building is one of the most significant examples of viceregal civic architecture in Oaxaca. In spite of alterations made in the twentieth century it keeps to its original layout on the ground floor with rooms set around three indoor patios.

The design of the building is tailored to meet the demands imposed by the traditions of Oaxacan high society. It exhibits the influence of Andalusian houses, prevalent among the residences built by the descendants of the conquerors, and later by many other prominent personages from Mexican high society throughout the colonial period. One of the important architectural elements of the house is the sculpted stonework of the facade, especially over the main entryway.

Open: 10:30am to 8pm - Mex$20

M. Alcalá at Morelos

Closed Tuesday; Free on Sunday.

Graphic Arts Institute
The Instituto occupies a beautiful seventeenth-century house located almost directly in front of the Church of Santo Domingo Guzman. It was founded by the painter Francisco Toledo, a native of Juchitán, Oaxaca and was inaugurated on 25 November 1988. It has about 5000 works of graphic art from around the world. These works cover many different time periods and were exhibited when the Instituto first opened. These works include some by Alberto Gaultiere, Francisco de Goya, Salvador Dali, Mariano Fortuny Carbo, Henry Moore, and works by the pioneers of Mexican graphic art such as Manuel Manilla, Guadalupe Posada, Francisco de Goitia, and the three great muralists: José Clemente Orozco, Diego Rivera, and David Alfaro Siqueiros.

Currently the Instituto has four rooms devoted to single-artist, two-month expositions and the rest of the rooms hold an excellent art oriented library that also contains a section of fiction. The library's collection deals mostly with universal art and craft themes and includes books on art history, museums, painters, folk art, craftwork, architecture, and much more. There is a comfortable patio where you can sit and relax or chat.

Open: 9:30am to 6pm - Donation

Macedonio Alcalá 507

Also known as IAGO. The Library is closed Sunday.

Casa de la Ciudad

The Casa de la Ciudad is a place open to the general public where information about the origin, development and conservation of the historic center of Oaxaca can be found. It functions as a forum for the analysis of current urban development and its impact on the historic center. It spreads the values of architecture and historical city planning and seeks a more active participation of civil society in the protection, revitalization and renewal of the city patrimony within the current legal frame work. Of special interest are the general urban topics of water, garbage, urban sprawl, traffic as well as reflection on the city as a whole and the factors that contribute to its quality of life. The Casa de la Ciudad defends the development of a human and sustainable city both economically balanced and environmentally responsible.

History of the Building
The first mentions of a construction at the corner of the current streets of Porfirio Diaz and Morelos dates to 1707:“una casa de bajos y tienda”, located in the corner opposite the chapel of our Lady of Carmen and Lagrimas de San Pedro. The current building was constructed between 1775 and 1847, by which time it is described as: "A house of high spaces and shallows, at the corner of Templo del Carmen, what they call the lower Templo del Carmen, at the end of the block to the east it joins with the above mentioned church. At the west and south block, it adjoins with the house of the Oratory of San Felipe Neri. And at the end of the block, at the north with the houses of Felix Gaetarro". In the 1920´s, Hotel Seggarra was located in this building, later the building housed the newspaper “The Foganza” . The municipality of Oaxaca bought the building and it was used for offices of the town hall. In 2003 the building was completely restored for the new user: the Casa de la Ciudad.

Stamp Museum (MUFI)

Museum of Oaxacan Painters

Open: 10am to 6pm - Mex$20
Indepedencia & Garcia Vigil

Closed Mondays

Museo del Palacio

Open: 10am to 5pm - Free
South side of the Zócalo

Permanent exhibit of Oaxaca's history includes some interesting historic newsreels

Art Center of San Augustin

Open: 9am to 6pm - Free
Barrio de Vista Hermosa San Agustín Etla, Oaxaca, Oax. Tels. Fax.- (951) 52 130 42 / 52 130 43 / 52 125 74

An art school created in a large restored 19th century textile factory with temporary exhibits

Bravo Photography Center

Open: 9:30 am to 8 pm -
Bravo & Garcia Vigil

Gallery closed Tuesday