Palaces of Mexico City: Guided Walking Tour
- Duration: 4h
- Live guide in English, Spanish
4 options • from $28.65
If you're looking for ballet, you're in the right place with these Palacio de Bellas Artes tickets.
On top of your chance to see the prima ballerina leap across the stage, there's also an array of other shows on offer at Mexico City's Opera House.
Here's the full schedule of all upcoming events for the Palacio de Bellas Artes. Expect everything from orchestras to talented soloists who perfected their instruments through a lifetime of labor.
Along with a resplendent exterior that exhibits Art Nouveau and Neoclassical elements, the Palacio de Bellas Artes also houses extraordinary beauty within.
Masters of Mexican muralism have left their mark. With your Palacio de Bellas Artes ticket, keep an eye out for works by Rufino Tamayo once you're inside. Created in the 1950s, you'll find México de Hoy (Mexico Today), as well as Nacimiento de la Nacionalidad (Birth of Nationality), the latter displaying the symbolic depiction of the creation of the mestizo – someone of mixed indigenous and Spanish ancestry.
At the west end of the third floor is Diego Rivera's work from 1934, El hombre controlador del universo (Man, controller of the universe), a recreation of his work Man at the Crossroads that was originally intended for the Rockefeller Center in New York. The original painting was plastered over due to its inclusion of Lenin and a Soviet May Day parade, but the Rockefeller's loss is the Palacio de Bellas Artes' gain.
Also on show is David Alfaro Siqueiros' three-part La Nueva Democracía (New Democracy); Rivera's four-part Carnaval de la Vida Mexicana (Carnival of Mexican Life); and José Clemente Orozco's La Katharsis (Catharsis), which depicts the conflict between humankind's social and natural tendencies.
Known as the Cathedral of Art in Mexico, the Palacio de Bellas Artes has a story that's fitting for its title. Before it was built, there was another National Theater of Mexico. However, with the dawn of the Mexican War of Independence's centenary approaching, it was decided that something more spectacular was called for. Enter Italian architect Adamo Boari.
In 1904, with six years to go until the centenary of independence, construction began, but by 1913 it had stopped. The Mexican revolution and soft subsoil doomed plans for the Palacio de Bellas Artes, and it wasn't until 1934 and the arrival of a new architect – Mexican native Federico Mariscal – that the building saw its inauguration.
The Palacio de Bellas Artes, or Palace of Fine Arts, is an impressive historical building in Mexico City, serving as the home of the famous Ballet Folklórico de México. Their shows offer an exciting, magical journey tracing the origins of Mexico through to its present day.