Rufino Tamayo Museum of Pre-Hispanic Art
Museo de Arte Prehispánico de México Rufino Tamayo
A private collection donated by the Oaxacan painter Tamayo, displaying pre-Hispanic clay figures and stone carvings with an artist's eye, in bold colour schemes.
The museum was founded in 1974 when the Oaxacan-born modern painter Rufino Tamayo donated his collection. It holds over a thousand ceramics, stone carvings and masks from pre-Hispanic cultures across Mexico, including the Olmec, Maya, Zapotec and Aztec. The exhibits are arranged for their artistic beauty rather than chronology, and the galleries are painted in vivid pink, blue and purple, quite unlike a conventional archaeological museum. It is housed in a colonial-era mansion. Admission costs about 90 pesos, it is closed on Tuesdays (check locally), and it is about a 5-minute walk from the Zócalo.
Opening hours
Wed–Mon approx. 10:00–18:00; closed Tuesdays
Nearby sights
- Andador Turístico (Calle Macedonio Alcalá)
- Museo de Arte Contemporáneo de Oaxaca (MACO)
- Zócalo & Oaxaca Cathedral
- Basilica of Our Lady of Solitude
- Teatro Macedonio Alcalá
- Templo de Santo Domingo & Museum of Oaxacan Cultures
- Mercado Benito Juárez
- Museo Textil de Oaxaca