Mérida Art Gallery

Though it may seem discreet, this is one of the most important art museums in Mérida. It is housed in a seventeenth-century Jesuit building on a site deeply marked by history: you are standing in front of part of what was once the Colegio San Francisco Javier and the Church of El Jesús, a complex that played a central role in the religious and educational life of the colonial city. The large hall you pass through was originally the church’s sacristy, still recognizable by its vast stone vault and thick walls, while the upper floor corresponds to spaces once reserved for Jesuit priests. After the expulsion of the Society of Jesus in 1767, the building went through several different uses, including serving as a public library, before becoming the State Art Gallery of Yucatán in 1981. It was named in honor of Juan Gamboa Guzmán, considered the greatest Yucatecan painter of the nineteenth century. Trained in Europe and admitted to the Paris Academy of Fine Arts at the age of just twenty-five, he developed a body of work shaped by academic traditions and remarkable technical skill. Here, you can admire his most famous painting, Música Celestial, completed in 1883. Admission is free, so feel free to step inside and explore the collections, which range from paintings and graphic works to bronze sculptures inspired by Maya art.