Palacio de Bellas Artes

The Palacio de Bellas Artes is the city's main stage for the arts, described by Wikipedia as the art cathedral of Mexico, standing beside the Alameda Central on the western side of the historic centre. Porfirio Díaz laid the first stone in 1904, but the work stalled because of the soft ground and then the Revolution. Construction resumed in 1932 under Federico Mariscal and the palace opened on 29 November 1934. That long gap explains its two personalities: the exterior by Adamo Boari is Art Nouveau and Neoclassical, while the interior is Art Deco. The heavy building has sunk around four metres into the old lakebed since work began.

For most visitors the murals are the main reason to go inside. On the upper levels you will find Diego Rivera's "Man, Controller of the Universe", his 1934 recreation of the mural destroyed at Rockefeller Center in New York, alongside José Clemente Orozco's "La Katharsis" and David Alfaro Siqueiros's "La Nueva Democracia". Rufino Tamayo's murals are on the lower floors. The museum stages temporary exhibitions, and the top floor holds the Museo Nacional de Arquitectura.

The theatre is home to the national opera, the national symphony orchestra and the Ballet Folklórico de México. Its stage curtain, made by Tiffany in New York from nearly a million pieces of glass, shows the volcanoes Popocatépetl and Iztaccíhuatl. You only see it properly if you attend a performance, and the Ballet Folklórico is the obvious choice for visitors because it needs no Spanish. The event calendar is published on the Bellas Artes website.

Allow an hour for the murals and the exhibition spaces, more if a major show is on. Opening times for the museum are best checked on its website before you go, and it is sensible to book performance tickets well ahead for weekends and holidays. Note that the main hall seats around 1,600 to 1,700, depending on the source, so even large shows can fill.

The palace is the headquarters of INBAL, the national institute of fine arts and literature, and its general enquiries line and email are published by the city's tourism office. The Museo Nacional de Arquitectura, the Museo Banco de México and the Palacio de Correos de México are all within about 100 metres, which makes this corner of Avenida Juárez one of the easiest places in the city to fill a morning with art and architecture.