Located in the north-center of the Peninsula and state of Yucatán, Mérida is the head of the municipality of the same name. The city was established over an ancient Mayan center after the military campaign undertaken by “El Mozo” Francisco de Montejo to conquer the Yucatan peninsula. It was named Mérida after the city of the same name in the province of Extremadura, Spain. The conquerors used the stones of the pre-Hispanic buildings for the construction of the Casas Reales and the Cabildo (Town Hall), as well as for the Cathedral of San Ildefonso, which dates from the second half of the 16th century, and the first to be erected on the mainland of the Americas.

Due to the henequen boom in the region towards the end of the 19th century, haciendas and specialized manufactories were built to produce the material. This wealth also led to the construction of large houses and buildings along Paseo Montejo, establishing a new architectural style, whose impact was also reflected in the configuration of the main avenues of the city.

Thanks to the characteristics determining the city’s construction, the relationship between its spaces and the urban layout, which present an exceptional historical testimony in Mexico, the city of Mérida was declared a Zone of Historical Monuments in 1982, a protection that defines five different perimeters.

Covering an area of 8.795 km2 and distributed over 659 city blocks, the 3,906 buildings with historical value were built between the 16th and 19th centuries. Some of them were destined for religious worship, such as the monastery complexes of Nuestra Señora del Carmen “La Mejorada,” Nuestra Señora de la Concepción, Las Monjas and the churches of Santa Lucía, San Cristóbal, San Sebastián, El Sagrario, La Tercera Order or Jesus Nazareno, San Juan Bautista, Santiago Apóstol, Santa Ana, the Cathedral and the Hermitage of Santa Isabel.

Other properties were designated for educational purposes, welfare services and for the use of the civil and military authorities. These include: the museums of Casa de Montejo, Palacio Cantón, the former Church of San Juan de Dios, the University of Yucatán, the Peón Contreras Theater, the Ateneo Peninsular, the Cepeda Peraza Library, the Railroad Station, the Civil Registry, the Old Grain Market, the Municipal Palace, the Government Palace, the Mejorada Barracks, the Dragon Arch, the Arch of the Bridge and the Arch of San Juan.

The rest of the buildings that make up the Zone of Historical Monuments of the city of Mérida are used as houses and many of them are outside the limits of the Historic Center. These constructions are characterized by their different architectural styles in which the Mudejar influence is combined with Renaissance-style elements, as well as ornamental details that, in conjunction with cultural attributes and indigenous workmanship, define a veritable regional style. These particularities developed towards the end of the 19th century, when Baroque and Neoclassical elements were integrated with expressions of the Romanticism and Eclecticism of the Porfiriato period.

In accordance with the thought and ideology of the 16th century, the layout of the city is formed by straight streets that start from the Plaza Mayor, in the shape of a checkerboard, which is slightly modified by the pre-existing pre-Hispanic street plan, which generated open spaces, structured as squares and gardens, among which the following stand out: Santa Lucía, Santa Ana, La Mejorada, Cepeda Peraza, San Sebastián, San Cristóbal, San Juan, Nuestra Señora del Buen Viaje, Paseo Montejo (inspired by Parisian boulevards), and Parque del Centenario.

The urban profile of the city is characterized by the height of the Cathedral, the “Mirador de las Monjas”; the many towers and bell towers; the size of its neoclassical buildings such as the Peón Contreras Theater and the Cantón Palace, which are distinguished by the flat topography across which the city expands, and is divided into neighborhoods including Santa Isabel, Santa Ana, Itzimná, San Cristobal.

Due to its significant range of aesthetic expressions, observed particularly in its civil and religious architecture, the city of Mérida developed, over the course of several centuries, an extraordinary urban fabric that is today an important part of the cultural and historical heritage of Mexico, and which holds unquestionable significance for local, state and national identity.

This memorable past, whose architectural vestiges of pre-Hispanic Mayan settlements, colonial buildings, churches, monasteries and haciendas have lasted through the years, have also led to the city of Mérida being named American Capital of Culture by the Organization of American States (OAS) in the years 2000 and 2017.