Museum of Contemporary Art of Oaxaca (MACO)

The venue of the museum is an old house built in the late 17th century and early 18th century by the Lazo de la Vega and Pinelo Families whose coat of arms dominates the façade. Popularly, the building is known as Hernan Cortes’ house, despite the fact that the conqueror never was in Oaxaca.
In time, the house of the Lazo de la Vega and Pinelo Families went through different owners until the state government acquired it in 1986 to establish the Museum of the City. Six years later, on February 28, 1992, the joint initiative of artists, citizens and authorities the building was now used to create the Museum of Contemporary Art of Oaxaca.
In 2010, the house went through a restoration that lasted 18 months. The ceiling of the staircase is a starry vault with arch ribs relief in mortar in which Francisco Toledo worked and now is another visual attraction inside the museum.
The museum also has a sculptural courtyard where lectures and occasional film screenings and performances take place.