IF CANCUN IS THE SULTRY SIREN of Mexico’s Yucatán Peninsula, Mérida is its quixotic heart. This picturesque city brims with Spanish colonial beauty and the romance of the storied 19th-century henequen plantation era. Henequen, or sisal, the “green gold” of the Mayan heartland, is used to weave the rope found in, among other products, fine Mérida hammocks, and the fiber built more than its share of family dynasties. It is believed that at the dawn of the 20th century, Mérida was home to more millionaires than any other city in the world.
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Left: El Burladero features bullfighter-themed art, architecture, and sculpture. Right: The Museo de Arte Contemporáneo Ateneo de Yucatán, housed in an old bishop’s palace, draws on the fertile creativity of today’s Yucatecan artists. |
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Rómulo Rozo’s Monumento a la Patria |
ALTHOUGH THE INTRODUCTION OF SYNTHETIC FIBERS in the 1940s ended Mérida’s glory days, the city remains rich with cultural treasures. The streets abound with architectural vignettes and vibrant energy, making it a wonderful place to explore.
Broad, tree-lined Paseo Montejo was the Park Avenue of Mérida during the city’s plantation heyday. Some of the glorious mansions of that era remain in disrepair, but others are currently undergoing extensive restoration. The grandest of the bunch is the wedding cake–like Palacio Cantón, now home to the Museo Regional de Antropología. While the museum’s pre-Columbian displays are interesting in their own right, the mansion’s lavish interiors are the real reason to visit.
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Left: Paseo Montejo, designed to emulate Paris’ Champs–Elysées, is notable for its stately mansions; Right: Pancho’s Restaurant and Patio Bar features Andy Warhol–style portraits of Pancho Villa. |
THE MODERN SCULPTURES THAT DOT Paseo Montejo and the Pasaje de la Revolución provide Mérida with its current nickname, City of Sculpture, and imbue the stately street scenes with a vivacious modernism. Exhibits rotate periodically.
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Casa de Montejo, distinguished by its elaborate plateresque architecture, is Mérida’s most important nongovernment building. |
Casa de Montejo was originally the audacious 16th-century abode of the conquistador Francisco Montejo, who blazed through the Mayan heartland to found Mérida. The palatial home is a breathtaking example of the elaborate plateresque style of architecture, so known for its resemblance to intricate silver work. The lovely, leafy courtyard recalls Casa de Montejo’s storied palatial past.
On Plaza Mayor sits the Catedral de San Ildefonso, Mexico’s oldest cathedral. Built between 1561 and 1598, San Ildefonso is probably the most imposing building in Mérida, its walls constructed from the stones of an ancient Mayan city. The Palacio del Gobierno is worth visiting to view the sweeping 1970s-era murals by renowned local painter Fernando Castro Pacheco. Pacheco’s flamboyantly hued panoramas depict unvarnished, almost mystical, scenes from Mayan history, including the Mayans’ devastating defeat at the hands of the Spaniards.
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Left: Casa de Montejo, distinguished by its elaborate plateresque architecture, is Mérida’s most important nongovernment building; Right: Cafetería Pop, with its Ben Shahn– inspired mural. |
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Admiring one of Fernando Castro Pacheco’s murals in Mérida’s Palacio del Gobierno. |
While Mérida mesmerizes with its art and architecture, it’s just one of many places in Mexico where you can sate your cultured side. Here are seven other destinations that offer their own unique perspective on Mexico’s creative past and present. In fact, a few even let you soak up the sun and surf when you’re not indulging in their even more colorful pursuits.
Cancún: World-famous for its glittering beach resorts and sexy Caribbean location, Cancún keeps a few secrets tucked away for treasure-seeking culture vultures. Most notable is the Museo de Arte Popular, a small but dazzling folk art museum that brings Mexican artistic traditions to life. Works by some of the nation’s finest artisans, including vibrant, color-saturated images of the Virgin of Guadalupe, are beautifully displayed. Shoppers on the hunt for keepsakes can explore the crafts markets along Avenida Tulum.
Acapulco: A who’s who hideaway during Hollywood’s Rat Pack days, Acapulco is in the midst of a South Beach–style renaissance, with vintage hotels and long-neglected neighborhoods being gradually spruced up. One of the few remnants of the city’s Spanish colonial history is also its most beautifully restored asset: Fuerte de San Diego was constructed in 1616 to protect the budding commercial port from pirate attacks. The majestic fort now houses the excellent Museo Histórico de Acapulco, which traces city history throughout the ages. A few doors away is the Casa de Mascaras, a delightful museum displaying ceremonial masks.
Mazatlán: This pleasing Pacific resort hides a few architectural treasures. Most notable is the elaborate 19th-century cathedral that presides over Old Mazatlán, its twin steeples dressed in eye-catching yellow tiles. Old Mazatlán is also home to an increasing number of art and craft galleries; at Nidart, leather mask-makers and clay sculptors can often be observed at work among the handicrafts in a colorful 19th-century house. Some wonderful colonial villages nearby are worth touring, including Concordia, a furniture-making and pottery town.
Puerto Vallarta: Thanks to strict architectural regulations, Puerto Vallarta is probably the most beautifully preserved of Mexico’s Pacific resorts. The downtown Old Town neighborhood sets a charming tone with cobblestoned streets, red-tiled roofs, and curling wrought iron. The main thoroughfare is the Malecón, a beachside walk dotted with sculpture, including The Seahorse, Rafael Zamarripa’s jubilant rendering of a boy astride a magical sea creature (above). The Palacio Municipal features a fanciful 1981 Manuel Lepe mural of the town that’s also well worth seeking out.
Mexico City: Mexico’s magnificent capital city is more alluring and approachable now than it has been in decades. Among its jewels are the Palacio de Bellas Artes, an art nouveau masterpiece whose frozen-in-time interior showcases masterworks by Mexico’s finest muralists, including Diego Rivera, José Clemente Orozco, and David Alfaro Siqueiros. Nearby, the National Palace is home to a full suite of breathtaking Rivera murals depicting Mexico’s history from a socialist perspective. Museum highlights include the lifelong home of Rivera’s iconic self-portraitist wife, Frida Kahlo, and the his-and-hers modernist houses where Kahlo and Rivera lived and worked.
San Miguel de Allende: An hour’s drive northwest of Querétaro, San Miguel de Allende is a must on any art and architecture tour of Mexico. Nestled in the Sierra Madre, this vibrant artists’ colony with a Moorish flair is rife with spectacular colonial architecture. San Miguel’s artistic roots date back to the 1930s, when an international set of well-to-do patrons founded an art school that’s now known as the Instituto Allende and still going strong. A large expatriate community lends the town a café society air.
Puebla: The beautiful small city of Puebla is preserved as a UNESCO World Heritage Site for its splendid baroque-style architecture. Artisans from the Spanish town of Talavera relocated here early in Puebla’s history and as a result, gorgeous hand-glazed Talavera tiles and gold leaf flourishes dress its buildings and give the city a fantastical and festive flair. Shoppers should seek out the Barrio de los Artistas, an artists’ district where painters, potters, and sculptors show their wares. Fans of the culinary arts will celebrate Puebla as the birthplace of mole poblano, Mexico’s rich, zesty, and colorful national dish.
— Cheryl Farr Leas
Getting There: Continental Airlines has more service to Mexico than any other domestic carrier. To book your vacation to these and other destinations, visit Continental Airlines at covacations.com.
