Museo Nacional del Virreinato

The Museo Nacional del Virreinato opened in 1964 inside the former Jesuit missionary college of Tepotzotlán and holds Mexico's principal collection of art and decorative objects from the roughly three-century viceregal period between the Spanish conquest and independence in 1821. The permanent collection is arranged thematically and chronologically across the former cloisters, sacristy, and residential wings of the Jesuit complex, moving from devotional painting and sculpture through furniture, textiles, silverwork, and biombos (folk screens) that illustrate daily and religious life under colonial rule. Highlights include an extensive gallery of casta paintings depicting colonial-era racial classifications, a large collection of religious retablos and processional sculpture, and decorative silver and ivory objects that reflect New Spain's trade links across the Pacific and Atlantic. The museum's setting inside the Iglesia de San Francisco Javier, with its gilded Churrigueresque interior, is itself considered part of the collection, blending curated galleries with the original 16th-18th century architecture. The museum has continued to expand its holdings through acquisitions and loans since its founding and periodically hosts temporary exhibitions on specific aspects of viceregal art and history.