Templo de Santo Domingo, and Museo de las Culturas de Oaxaca, Calle Macedonio Alcala, Oaxaca, Oaxaca State, Mexico

Getty Images/age fotostock RM

Museo de las Culturas de Oaxaca

Top choice in Oaxaca City


Got two hours? You'll need it for the Museum of Oaxacan Cultures, housed in the beautiful monastery buildings adjoining the Templo de Santo Domingo. This is one of Mexico's best regional museums. The rich displays take you right through the history and cultures of Oaxaca state up to the present day, emphasizing the continuity between pre-Hispanic and contemporary cultures in areas such as crafts, medicine and food.

A gorgeous stone cloister serves as antechamber to the museum proper. The greatest treasure is the Mixtec hoard from Tomb 7 at Monte Albán, in Room III (the first on the right upstairs). This dates from the 14th century, when Mixtecs reused an old Zapotec tomb at Monte Albán to bury one of their kings and his sacrificed servants, along with a stash of beautifully worked silver, turquoise, coral, jade, amber, pearls, finely carved bone, crystal goblets, a skull covered in turquoise and a lot of gold. The treasure was discovered in 1932 by Alfonso Caso.

Halls I to IV are devoted to the pre-Hispanic period, halls V to VIII to the colonial period, halls IX to XIII to Oaxaca in the independence era and after, and the final room (XIV) to Santo Domingo Monastery itself. At the end of the long corridor past hall IX, glass doors give a view into the beautifully ornate choir of the Templo de Santo Domingo.

Some of the museum’s explanatory material is in English, but most is in Spanish. Also, there's a good book/souvenir shop and a fascinating on-site library with 30,000 titles in various languages, with some books dating to the 15th century.


Lonely Planet's must-see attractions

Nearby Oaxaca City attractions

1. Templo de Santo Domingo

0.02 MILES

Gorgeous Santo Domingo is the most splendid of Oaxaca’s churches, with a finely carved baroque facade and nearly every square centimeter inside decorated…

2. Instituto de Artes Gráficas de Oaxaca

0.05 MILES

In a beautiful colonial house and founded by Oaxacan artist Francisco Toledo, IAGO offers changing exhibitions of graphic art as well as a superb arts…

3. La Máquina

0.07 MILES

At the center of this gallery's workshop is an exceedingly rare 8-ton J Voirin lithography press, which prints both acrylics and woodcuts. Works on…

4. Galería Quetzalli

0.07 MILES

A leading serious commercial gallery, handling some of the biggest names, such as Francisco Toledo and Guillermo Olguín. It has a second exhibition space,…

5. Jardín Etnobotánico

0.08 MILES

In former monastic grounds behind the Templo de Santo Domingo, this garden features plants from around Oaxaca state, including a staggering variety of…

6. Museo de Sitio Casa de Juárez

0.13 MILES

The simple house of bookbinder Antonio Salanueva, who supported the great 19th-century Mexican leader Benito Juárez during his youth, is now an…

7. Centro Fotográfico Álvarez Bravo

0.14 MILES

With a taste for provocative social commentary, this contemporary gallery displays weird and wonderful work by local and international photographers.

8. Andador Turístico

0.16 MILES

Historic, romantic, dignified and safe, wonderful Calle Alcalá (traffic-free since the 1980s) is what Oaxaca is all about. It runs north from the…