The Music Palace, a museum and performance space in the heart of the Centro, wasn’t open long before the pandemic shut it down.
Now, the modern attraction — which also serves as an archive and research center for Mexican music — is due to open after being shuttered for almost two years.
The Palacio de la Música will reopen its doors in the first or second week of April, said its general director, Maleck Abdalá Hadad.
Since Jan. 15, officials have been working apace to meet all the necessary requirements to receive visitors. One big hurdle is to make the interactive exhibits safe to touch once again.
Yucatán’s second approach to the green epidemiological traffic light and progress in vaccinating the public have led to this moment, said Abdalá Hadad.
“We think that access will be allowed with guided group tours so that we can disinfect everything that is touched (by visitors),” he said.
While the building was closed to the public — one of the city’s earliest pandemic institutional casualties — the facilities were still maintained by work crews to keep it poised for a quick reopening, said Abdala Hadad.
Tickets prices will rise, but only for foreign visitors. So entry will be 200 pesos for foreigners, and between 25 and 100 pesos for nationals.
Face-to-face classes for children learning the guitar and other instruments will resume on a separate timeline, he said.
The museum, opened in June 2018, has eight virtual pavilions honoring Mexico’s music heritage, a room for the Yucatecan trova, a music library, a video library and a concert hall.
Even before its closure, the music palace faced challenges. Abdalá Hadad told local media that government budget cuts had forced them to find ways to earn their keep.
The complex, which was built at a cost of 348 million pesos, was inaugurated on June 25, 2018. In its first year, it attracted 32,000 visitors — mostly Yucatecan and national tourists — earning 100,000 pesos a month while spending more than six times that on electricity, security, water, maintenance, and insurance.
More: Read about the Music Palace’s origins, goals, and challenges through the years
