Palacio de Bellas Artes, Mexico City
Centro
Mexico City
Mexico 06050
Tel: 52 55 5521 9251
www.bellasartes.gob.mx
Concierge.com's insider take:
At the eastern end of the Alameda Central is the expansive Palacio de Bellas Artes, a building with a somewhat hodgepodge architectural style. Its construction began in 1904 but had to be stopped in 1910 for the Mexican Revolution; by the time it was finished in 1934, a new Art Deco–style facade had been added to what was essentially an Art Nouveau interior. The main attraction is a copy of the mural that Rivera originally painted for New York City's Rockefeller Center in 1933. A visual ode to communism, it depicts, among other scenes, the figure of Vladimir Lenin gazing down at a May Day parade. Such imagery apparently didn't jibe with Rockefeller's capitalistic sensibilities; his family had the mural destroyed before it was ever shown to the public. Come back in the evening to see a performance of traditional dances by the Ballet Folklórico de México (52-55-5529-9320; www.balletamalia.com).