Franz Mayer Museum

Latin America's largest collection of decorative arts fills the Franz Mayer Museum (Museo Franz Mayer), housed in the former San Juan de Dios monastery and hospital, an 18th-century building in Mexico City's historic center that was rehabilitated for the museum. It opened in 1986 to keep and display the collection of Franz Mayer, a stockbroker and financier who spent fifty years gathering fine art, books, furniture, ceramics, textiles and many other decorative objects.

A large share of the collection comes from Europe and Asia, but most of it is Mexican, with pieces dating from the 15th to the 20th centuries. Much of it is fine handcraft, such as textiles and Talavera pottery. Objects like these often did not survive because few people thought them worth preserving.

Only a little more than a quarter of Mayer's collection is on display. The museum continues to make acquisitions, holds workshops and sponsors temporary exhibitions, and it has a café in its central courtyard garden.