Museo de la Ciudad de México

For a good overview of the megalopolis, visit the Museum of Mexico City. The innovative permanent exhibit, ‘It All Fits in a Basin, ’ presents a concise history of the city with models and maps; one room is devoted to the Zócalo and its role as a stage for social movements. Upstairs is the former studio of Joaquín Clausell, considered Mexico’s foremost impressionist. He used the four walls of the windowless room as a sketchbook during the three decades he worked there until his death in 1935. The result is an insanely detailed mural consisting of hundreds of small canvasses, full of people, animals, bucolic landscapes, religious motifs – whatever was on his mind.