The Paseo de Montejo is a broad, tree-lined boulevard that runs north-south starting at Calle 47, 7 blocks north and 2 blocks east of the main square.  In the late 19th century, stalwarts of Mérida's upper crust (mostly plantation owners) decided that the city needed something grander than its traditional narrow streets lined by wall-to-wall town houses.  They built this monumentally proportioned boulevard and lined it with mansions.  Things went sour with the henequén bust, but several of these mansions survive -- some in private hands, others as offices, restaurants, or consulates.  Today, this is the fashionable part of town, with many fine restaurants, trendy discos, and expensive hotels.

Of the mansions that survived, the most notable is the Palacio Cantón, which houses the Museo Regional de Antropología, or Anthropology Museum (tel. 999/923-0557).  Designed and built by Enrico Deserti, the architect of the Teatro Peón Contreras, it was constructed between 1909 and 1911, during the last years of the Porfiriato.  It was the residence of General Francisco Cantón Rosado, who enjoyed his palace for only 6 years before dying in 1917.  For a time the mansion served as the official residence of the state's governor.

Viewing the museum also affords you an opportunity to see some of the surviving interior architecture.  The museum's main focus is the pre-Columbian cultures of the peninsula, especially the Maya.  Topics include cosmology, history, and culture.  Captions for the permanent displays are mostly in Spanish.  Starting with fossil mastodon teeth, the exhibits take you through the Yucatán's history, paying special attention to the daily life of its inhabitants.

Exhibits illustrate such strange Maya customs as tying boards to babies' heads to create the oblong shape that they considered beautiful, and filing teeth or perforating them to inset jewels.  There are enlarged photos of several archaeological sites and drawings that illustrate the various styles of Maya dwellings.  Even if you know only a little Spanish, this is a worthwhile stop, and it provides good background for explorations of Maya sites.  The museum is open Tuesday to Saturday from 8am to 8pm, Sunday from 8am to 2pm. Admission is $3.50.

Downtown Mérida is a great example of a lowland colonial city.  The town has a casual, relaxed feel.  Buildings lack the severe baroque and neoclassical features that characterize central Mexico; most are finished in stucco and painted light colors.  Mérida's gardens add to this relaxed, tropical atmosphere.  Gardeners do not strive for control over nature.  Here, natural exuberance is the ideal, with plants growing in a wild profusion that disguises human intervention.  A perfect example is the courtyard in the Palacio Montejo.  Mérida's plazas are a slightly different version of this aesthetic: Unlike the highland plazas, with their carefully sculpted trees, Mérida's squares are typically built around large trees that are left to grow as tall as possible.  Hurricane Isidore blew down several of these, and has changed the appearance of these plazas as well as the Paseo de Montejo.

Plaza Mayor has this sort of informality.  Even when there's no orchestrated event in progress, the park is full of people sitting on the benches, talking with friends, or taking a casual stroll.  A plaza like this is a great advantage for a big city such as Mérida, giving it a personal feel and a sense of community.  Notice the beautiful scale and composition of the major buildings surrounding it.  The most prominent of these is the cathedral.

The oldest cathedral on the continent, it was built between 1561 and 1598.  Much of the stone in the cathedral's walls came from the ruined buildings of Tihó, the former Maya city.  The original finish was stucco, and you can see some remnants still clinging to the bare rock. However, people like the way the unfinished walls show the cathedral's age.  Notice how the two top levels of the bell towers are built off-center from their bases -- an uncommon feature.  Inside, decoration is sparse, with altars draped in fabric colorfully embroidered like a Maya woman's shift.  The most notable item is a picture of Ah Kukum Tutul Xiú, chief of the Xiú people, visiting the Montejo camp to make peace; it's hanging over the side door on the right.

To the left of the main altar is a small shrine with a curious figure of Christ that is a replica of one recovered from a burned-out church in the town of Ichmul.  In the 1500s a local artist carved the original figure from a miraculous tree that was hit by lightning and burst into flames -- but did not char.  The statue later became blistered in the church fire at Ichmul, but it survived.  In 1645 it was moved to the cathedral in Mérida, where the locals attached great powers to the figure, naming it Cristo de las Ampollas (Christ of the Blisters).  It did not, however, survive the sacking of the cathedral in 1915 by revolutionary forces, so another figure, modeled after the original, was made.  Take a look in the side chapel (daily 8-11am and 4:30-7pm), which contains a life-size diorama of the Last Supper.  The Mexican Jesus is covered with prayer crosses brought by supplicants asking for intercession.

Next door to the cathedral is the old bishop's palace, now converted into the city's contemporary art museum, Museo de Arte Contemporáneo Ateneo de Yucatán (tel. 999/928-3236).  The palace was confiscated and rebuilt during the Mexican Revolution in 1915. The museum's entrance faces the cathedral from the recently constructed walkway between the two buildings called the Pasaje de la Revolución.  The 17 exhibition rooms display work by contemporary artists, mostly from the Yucatán.  (The best known are Fernando García Ponce and Fernando Castro Pacheco, whose works also hang in the government palace described below.) Nine of the rooms hold the museum's permanent collection; the rest are for temporary exhibits. It's open Wednesday to Monday from 10am to 6pm. Admission is $2.50.

Moving clockwise around the plaza, on the south side is the Palacio Montejo.  Its facade, with heavy decoration around the doorway and windows, is a good example of the Spanish architectural style known as plateresque.  But the content of the decoration is very much a New World creation. Conquering the Yucatán was the Montejo family business, begun by the original Francisco Montejo and continued by his son and nephew, both named Francisco Montejo. Construction of the house started in 1542 under the son, Francisco Montejo El Mozo ("The Younger").  Bordering the entrance are politically incorrect figures of conquistadors standing on the heads of vanquished Indians -- borrowed, perhaps, from the pre-Hispanic custom of portraying victorious Maya kings treading on their defeated foes.  The posture of the conquistadors and their facial expression of wide-eyed dismay make them less imposing than the Montejos might have wished.  A bank now occupies the building, but you can enter the courtyard, view the garden, and see for yourself what a charming residence it must have been for the descendants of the Montejos, who lived here as recently as the 1970s.  (Curiously enough, not only does Mérida society keep track of who is descended from the Montejos, but it also keeps track of who is descended from the last Maya king, Tutul Xiú.)

In stark contrast to the severity of the cathedral and Casa Montejo is the light, unimposing Palacio Municipal (town hall) or Ayuntamiento. The exterior dates from the mid-19th century, an era when a tropicalist aesthetic tinged with romanticism began asserting itself across coastal Latin America.  On the second floor, you can see the meeting hall of the city council and enjoy a view of the plaza from the balcony.  Next door to the Ayuntamiento is a recently completed building called El Nuevo Olimpo (The New Olympus).  It took the place of the old Olimpo, which a misguided town council demolished in the 1970s, to the regret of many older Meridanos.  The new building tries to incorporate elements of the original while presenting something new.  It holds concert and gallery space, a bookstore, and a lovely courtyard.  There is a comfortable cafe under the arches, and a bulletin board at the entrance to the courtyard with postings of upcoming performances.

Cater-cornered from the Nuevo Olimpo is the old Casa del Alguacil (Magistrate's House).  Under its arcades is something of an institution in Mérida: the Dulcería y Sorbetería Colón, an ice cream and sweet shop that will appeal to those who prefer less-rich ice creams.  A spectacular side doorway on Calle 62 bears viewing, and across the street is the new Cine Mérida, with two movie screens showing art films and one stage for live performances.  Returning to the main plaza, down a bit from the ice cream store is a shopping center of boutiques and convenience food vendors called Pasaje Picheta.  At the end of the arcade is the Palacio de Gobierno, dating from 1892.  Large murals by the Yucatecan artist Fernando Castro Pacheco, executed between 1971 and 1973, decorate the walls of the courtyard.  Scenes from Maya and Mexican history abound, and the painting over the stairway depicts the Maya spirit with ears of sacred corn, the "sunbeams of the gods." Nearby is a painting of mustachioed Lázaro Cárdenas, who as president in 1938 expropriated 17 foreign oil companies and was hailed as a Mexican liberator.  Upstairs is a long, wide gallery with more of Pacheco's paintings, which achieve their effect by localizing color and imitating the photographic technique of double exposure.  The palace is open Monday to Saturday from 8am to 8pm, Sunday from 9am to 5pm. There is a small tourism office to the left as you enter.

Further down Calle 61 is the Museo de la Ciudad.  It faces the side of the cathedral and occupies the former church of San Juan de Dios.  An exhibit outlining the history of Mérida will be of interest to those curious about the city; there is explanatory text in English.  Hours are Monday to Friday from 10am to 2pm and 4 to 8pm, Saturday and Sunday from 10am to 2pm. Admission is free.