Known previously as the Oaxaca Regional Museum, the Cultures of Oaxaca Museum is housed in the magnificent former Monastery of Santo Domingo de Guzmán, built by the Dominican order in the sixteenth century. Construction began in 1575 and the final stage was completed in 1731. This is a splendid monument exemplary of the viceregal period of architecture. It has 14 permanent galleries covering archeology, history and ethnography, with nine thematic galleries and three temporary exhibition galleries. The majority of the archeological artifacts on display were found during the excavation works carried out by INAH in Oaxaca.

Before it was established in this building, Oaxaca Museum went through various stages. It was founded on September 21, 1831 initially in a classroom of the Institute of Arts and Sciences of the State of Oaxaca, and it remained there until 1930 when the state government granted it space in the Girl’s Academy, which is today the Museum of Oaxacan Painters. It was officially launched as the Regional History and Archeology Museum of Oaxaca on November 23, 1933.

It moved again in December 1972, this time to its current location, as Oaxaca Regional Museum. The huge restoration and conservation project on the complex of the Monastery of Santo Domingo de Guzmán began in 1994, winning the Queen Sofia International Prize for the best restoration. This also implied the renovation of the museum, which was relaunched in 1998 under its current name, the Cultures of Oaxaca Museum.

Today the Cultures of Oaxaca Museum shares this space with other cultural and educational institutions: the Francisco de Burgoa Library, the Historical Ethnobotanical Garden and the Néstor Sánchez Public Newspaper and Periodicals Library. It also has multipurpose spaces where important academic and cultural events are held.