Many pieces in the collection are fine handcrafts, such as textiles and Talavera pottery, and they are important because they are items that often did not survive because most did not consider them worth preserving.

In addition to displaying the items Mayer collected, of which only over a quarter is visible, the museum still makes acquisitions, hold workshops, sponsors temporary exhibits and has a café located in the center courtyard/garden.

[5] The museum studies decorative arts from the past centuries in order to see its effects on contemporary design.

[5] The museum offers guided tours, courses, lectures, concerts and other performing arts, children's workshops and special activities for members.

One recent temporary exhibit was a selection of about seventy early 20th century phonographs and other sound reproduction machines restored by engineer Salvador Vélez García.

[7] For its 25th anniversary in 2011, the museum inaugurated a temporary exhibit called “Susurros” (Whispers) which is dedicated to the history of the collection.

This hospital was founded by Dr. Pedro Lopez in 1582, the first medical doctor to graduate from the Royal and Pontifical University of Mexico.

The Human Settlements and Public Works Ministry granted occupation of the building to the Franz Mayer Cultural Trusteeship, managed by the Bank of Mexico with the purpose of founding a museum.

[5] The collection includes silverwork, ceramics, furniture, textiles, fine arts and decorations made of pre Hispanic style feather work, lacquer, ivory, shell, glass and enamel, mostly of pieces from the 16th to the 19th centuries with a variety of places of origin, materials and styles.

Post colonial works include a landscape by José María Velasco and an early painting by Diego Rivera .

[4] In 2004, anthropologist Ruth D. Lechuga donated her private collection of artifacts and personal items to the museum.

[14] The collection contained over 14,000 artifacts, 5,000 books and magazines and 1,000 personal effects documenting Lechuga's life from her family's flight from the Nazi Anschluss in her native Austria to the years dedicated to the research on Mexico's indigenous populations.

Anthropologists Marta Turok and Margarita de Orellana are the co-executors of the collection, which has been shown in several exhibits.

[1][17] Mayer became an extremely successful businessman, mostly working in stocks and other financial services, gaining his Mexican citizenship in 1933.

[18] However he is best known for his collection of decorative arts which filled his house in the Lomas de Chapultepec neighborhood, and first registered by Gonzalo Obregón, an antiques dealer, in 1953.

[17] He began collecting textiles as early as 1905, often buying Mexican ones to send to family and friends in Europe as gifts.

The museum also has a collection of letters Mayer wrote inquiring specialists about acquired pieces or those he had an interest in.

Art was followed by books, including various editions of Don Quixote and the collecting of Talavera ceramics and tile began in 1943.

[18] Mayer also had a collection of orchids, cactus and azaleas, cared for by a gardener named Felipe Juárez.

[1] In 1963, Mayer decided to set up a trust fund for the purpose of donating his collection to a museum dedicated to it.