[3] The museum contains a number of elements of the old palace as well as 26 rooms dedicated to the history and development of Mexico City from Aztec times to the present.

[6] The history of the Old Palace of the Counts of Santiago de Calimaya dates back to the year 1527, when Mr. Juan Gutiérrez Altamirano arrived in New Spain from the island of Cuba, where he had been governor in 1524; to take the post of Corregidor of Texcoco and overseer of Hernán Cortés.

The counts suffered financial difficulties at this time, but their status as nobles enabled them to get the audiencia to allow them to tax their lands, so that they would obtain money for the rebuilding of their palace.

In the colonial era, calle de Pino Suárez (at that time, Iztapalapa road) was the fashionable street for the houses of the nobility, which were thus aligned with the Royal Palace.

At this time, the viceregal government decided to renovate the deteriorated palace in 1777, giving the work to Francisco Antonio Guerrero y Torres,[7] putting a lien on the building's rental income.

[1] The look that survives today is the result of remodeling work done in the late 18th century and was one of the last major Baroque projects in Mexico.

It is thought that the head may have come from the Templo Mayor and was placed as the cornerstone of the original house that was owned by Juan Gutierrez Altamirano [es].

This house was adapted to rent space to lower-class tenants and by end of the 1950s had become tenements, in spite of the fact that it had been declared a national monument in 1931.

[11] The pre-Hispanic room, decorated by the painter Ana Ugalde and others,[12] contains objects such as metates (flat stones for grinding corn), jars, bowls, urns, incense burners as well as Aztec codices, maps and other objects showing the everyday life of people in the Mexican highlands of this time period.

The colonial-era, 19th and 20th century rooms also contain everyday items from these time periods such as furniture, desks, tables, vases, and jars as well as arts such as sculptures and paintings.

Clausell received visitors in these rooms such as Gerardo Murillo (Dr. Atl), Diego Rivera, Carlos Pellicer, Salvador Novo and Julio Ruelas.

The rooms contain 1,300 sketches by the artist including portraits of famous people, images of Christ, angels and animals and mythological scenes.

[4] The collection of works by Clausell include foreshortened figures that the artist made simply to clean his brushes.

[2] The Jaime Torres Bodet Library contains approximately 10,000 volumes, mostly dealing with topics related to Mexico City.

[3] There are also temporary exhibits, educational programs for children and adults, a room devoted to the river system in the Valley of Mexico, a bookstore, and guided tours.

[11] One of the events recently held here was called "Beats & Bits," which traced the origins of electronic music from the beginnings of the 20th century to the present.

[13] Another event was an exposition of Mexican wrestling (lucha libre) featuring photographs, costumes and other objects related to this spectacle.