The first encounter isn’t with a hanging artwork, but with the building itself. Before entering the Tamayo Museum, you almost stop without realizing it: the stepped volumes, the rough concrete, the way the museum seems to rise from Chapultepec Forest without dominating it. That initial pause is precisely where the architectural tours offered every Saturday at noon begin.

I had the chance to join one of these tours, and it entirely changes the way you experience the museum. Guided by the museum’s mediation team, the walk starts outside, with the story of the project: seven years of work, trips by Teodoro González de León and Abraham Zabludovsky to several countries, and a clear idea when they returned to Mexico—to build a museum that would engage with contemporary references yet use local materials and sensibilities.

The tour moves between facts and observations that feel more like a conversation than a lecture. You hear about the hammered concrete, the pre-Hispanic influences hidden in the proportions, and how both architects envisioned architecture as another sculpture, part of the permanent collection. It’s no coincidence that they received the National Prize for Arts and Sciences in 1982 for this project.

Walking through the Tamayo with this perspective helps you understand why it’s often cited as an example of the so-called Mexican Brutalism, even if the label isn’t universal. What is clear, however, is its presence in the urban landscape, alongside other Reforma landmarks like the National Auditorium or the Anthropology Museum. Here, concrete isn’t cold—it has texture, weight, and memory.

The tour also situates the museum in its historical context: late 20th-century Mexico, a period marked by economic growth, the Olympic Games, and the World Cup. These details help explain why this building was conceived from scratch as an exhibition space rather than as an adaptation—a rarity at the time.

The visit concludes inside, where structural decisions often go unnoticed when heading straight for the exhibitions. I left with the sense of having visited two museums in one: the museum of contemporary art and the museum of its own architecture.

The tours are free, recommended for visitors 12 and older, and require prior registration. The Tamayo Museum is located on Paseo de la Reforma at Gandhi, in the first section of Chapultepec, just steps from the Gandhi Metrobús station—a perfect excuse to walk along Reforma with fresh eyes.

museotamayo.org