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Roots Earth in Merida: audio stories about 42 places

Roots Earth has audio stories about 42 places in Merida, Mexico, in Latin America. The Merida stories are in all seven Roots Earth languages: English, German, Spanish, Italian, French, Dutch and Albanian. The app needs no account: open Merida, pick a place on the city's map of places and play. Download a city's audio, then it plays without a connection. The stories are written by local people.

The 42 places are listed below in the order the app shows them, and again further down with their coordinates. The lists were taken from the Roots Earth catalogue on 15 September 2026.

Published 16 September 2026. Markdown: merida.md

The 42 places in Merida with audio stories

In the order the app shows them.

  1. Plaza Grande
  2. Cathedral of Merida
  3. Casa de Montejo
  4. Government Palace
  5. Municipal Palace
  6. Paseo de Montejo
  7. Palacio Canton
  8. Monument to the Homeland
  9. Museum of the City of Merida
  10. Camara Houses
  11. Quinta Montes Molina
  12. Jose Peon Contreras Theatre
  13. Church of Jesus
  14. Santa Lucia Park
  15. Hidalgo Park
  16. Hermitage of Santa Isabel
  17. Olimpo Cultural Center
  18. Great Museum of the Maya World
  19. Museum of the Yucatecan Song
  20. Museum of Korean Immigration to Yucatan
  21. Mejorada Park
  22. San Juan Park
  23. Santiago Church
  24. San Cristobal Church
  25. MACAY Museum
  26. Park of the Americas
  27. Merida Mexico Temple
  28. Autonomous University of Yucatan
  29. Lucas de Galvez Market
  30. Santa Ana Market
  31. Santa Ana Park
  32. La Negrita Cantina
  33. Santiago Neighbourhood
  34. San Sebastian Neighbourhood
  35. Itzimna Neighbourhood
  36. Garcia Gineres Neighbourhood
  37. Centenario Zoo
  38. General Cemetery
  39. Kukulcan Alamo Park Stadium
  40. Carlos Iturralde Stadium
  41. Yucatan Siglo XXI Convention Centre
  42. Korean Migration Centennial Monument

Is there an audio guide for Plaza Grande?

Yes. Plaza Grande has its audio stories in the Roots Earth app: a short introduction and a deeper story, in English, German, Spanish, Italian, French, Dutch and Albanian.

It is place 1 of the 42 Merida places in the app, at 20.96739, -89.62261. Every one of the other 41 places in the list above has the same two stories.

Roots Earth is not a guided tour: you choose the place on the city's map of places and play its story yourself.

How to use Roots Earth in Merida

Open Roots Earth and choose Merida. The city has its own map of places with all 42 of them on it. Tap the place you are standing in front of, or any other, and play its short introduction or its deeper story. You decide what to listen to and in which order.

You can listen in English, German, Spanish, Italian, French, Dutch and Albanian, and there is no account. Download a city's audio, then it plays without a connection.

In full

All 42 places in Merida, in the app's order, with their coordinates.

All 42 places in Merida, with coordinates

Every place below has a short introduction and a deeper story in the Roots Earth app, in English, German, Spanish, Italian, French, Dutch and Albanian. The names, the coordinates (latitude, longitude) and the one line descriptions are the app's own catalogue values of 15 September 2026; a place without a line here has none that this page can print.

1. Plaza Grande

Coordinates
20.96739, -89.62261
In one line
The civic heart of Mérida, laid out in 1542 over the Maya city of T'hó. Ringed by the cathedral, the Casa de Montejo and government palaces, this shaded square fills each evening with music, vendors and the city's famous white love seats.

2. Cathedral of Merida

Coordinates
20.96712, -89.62259
In one line
Raised between 1561 and 1598 from the stones of dismantled Maya temples, San Ildefonso is among the oldest cathedrals on the American mainland. Its austere twin towers and bare interior reflect a severe Renaissance style, and it shelters the revered Cristo de las Ampollas.

3. Casa de Montejo

Coordinates
20.96694, -89.62278
In one line
Built between 1543 and 1549 for the conquistador family that founded Mérida, this Plateresque mansion guards one of the Americas' finest carved facades. Its stone soldiers, shown standing on the heads of the conquered, still face the Plaza Grande from the southern side.

4. Government Palace

Coordinates
20.9677, -89.62261
In one line
The seat of Yucatán's state government rises on the northern side of the Plaza Grande. Within its arcaded galleries hang the sweeping murals of Fernando Castro Pacheco, painted between 1971 and 1979 to trace the peninsula's history from Maya times through conquest and revolution.

5. Municipal Palace

Coordinates
20.96739, -89.6233
In one line
Seat of Mérida's city hall and mayor's office, this neoclassical palace anchors the western side of the Plaza Grande. Its arcaded ground floor, central clock tower and carved heraldry mark the building where the city has governed itself across the centuries.

6. Paseo de Montejo

Coordinates
20.98, -89.6198
In one line
Laid out from 1888 and inspired by the boulevards of Paris, this tree-lined avenue stretches more than 6 kilometres north from the old centre. Built by the henequen aristocracy at the height of the green gold boom, it is lined with grand belle-époque mansions.

7. Palacio Canton

Coordinates
20.98556, -89.61833
In one line
Built between 1904 and 1911 for henequen general Francisco Cantón Rosado, this Beaux-Arts mansion is the grandest on the Paseo de Montejo. Designed with plans by Enrico Deserti and rich in marble, it now houses Yucatán's Regional Museum of Anthropology.

8. Monument to the Homeland

Coordinates
20.9925, -89.61472
In one line
A hand-carved stone monument at the heart of a roundabout on Paseo de Montejo, completed in 1956 by Colombian sculptor Rómulo Rozo. More than 300 figures trace the history of Mexico in a striking neo-Maya style.

9. Museum of the City of Merida

Coordinates
20.9647, -89.621

10. Camara Houses

Coordinates
20.97667, -89.61972
In one line
Twin Beaux-Arts mansions on Paseo de Montejo, built between 1908 and 1911 for the Cámara family by French architect Gustave Umbdenstock. Their matching facades, Carrara marble, and grand staircases epitomize Mérida's henequen-era wealth.

11. Quinta Montes Molina

Coordinates
20.98639, -89.61806
In one line
An eclectic mansion on Paseo de Montejo constructed in 1906 for Cuban businessman Aurelio Portuondo, later home to the Montes Molina family. Now a house museum and event venue, it preserves the lavish lifestyle of the henequen boom.

12. Jose Peon Contreras Theatre

Coordinates
20.96944, -89.62083
In one line
Mérida's grand opera house, inaugurated in 1908 and designed by Italian architects led by Pío Piacentini. Its marble staircase and frescoed dome crown an eclectic neoclassical hall, now home to the Yucatán Symphony Orchestra.

13. Church of Jesus

Coordinates
20.96889, -89.62222
In one line
A Baroque church begun in 1618 by the Jesuits, its stone walls built partly from carved Maya blocks still visible in the masonry. Set between two leafy plazas in Mérida's historic center, it remains a beloved landmark.

14. Santa Lucia Park

Coordinates
20.97083, -89.62278
In one line
A colonial plaza laid out in 1542 beside the church of Santa Lucía, finished in 1575. Famous for its Thursday serenatas of Yucatecan trova since 1965, it is one of Mérida's most beloved gathering places.

15. Hidalgo Park

Coordinates
20.96833, -89.62222
In one line
A small, lively colonial square just off the Plaza Grande, ringed by cafés and a neoclassical hotel. At its center stands an 1896 monument to General Manuel Cepeda Peraza, a hero of the Caste War.

16. Hermitage of Santa Isabel

Coordinates
20.95611, -89.62
In one line
A serene 18th-century hermitage at Mérida's southern edge, marking the start of the old royal road to Campeche. Its white facade, bell gable, and quiet botanical garden made it a chapel for travelers seeking safe passage.

17. Olimpo Cultural Center

Coordinates
20.9675, -89.62306
In one line
Mérida's main municipal arts venue, opened in 1999 beside the Municipal Palace on the Plaza Grande. The contemporary building houses exhibition galleries, a courtyard, and a planetarium, taking its name from an old restaurant once on the site.

18. Great Museum of the Maya World

Coordinates
21.05417, -89.62583
In one line
One of Mexico's largest Maya museums, opened in 2012. Its striking design evokes the sacred ceiba tree, and its halls hold more than 1,100 artifacts spanning Maya cosmology, science, and daily life across three symbolic levels.

19. Museum of the Yucatecan Song

Coordinates
20.96861, -89.61513
In one line
A museum founded in 1978 to preserve Yucatecan song and the beloved trova tradition. Set in a restored 19th-century house in the Mejorada district, it honors composers such as Guty Cárdenas, Pepe Domínguez, and Ricardo Palmerín.

20. Museum of Korean Immigration to Yucatan

Coordinates
20.9632, -89.6136
In one line
A museum recalling the more than 1,000 Koreans who reached Yucatán in 1905 to labor on henequen plantations. Built around the former Korean National Association headquarters, it preserves the memory of an unexpected diaspora and its descendants.

21. Mejorada Park

Coordinates
20.96694, -89.61639
In one line
A historic square in Mérida's Mejorada barrio, facing a 17th-century Franciscan church and convent now used as a university faculty. Its central monument honors the Niños Héroes, the young cadets of the 1847 battle of Chapultepec.

22. San Juan Park

Coordinates
20.96389, -89.62361
In one line
A shaded colonial square three blocks south of the Plaza Grande, anchored by an 18th-century church and the old San Juan arch that once marked the southern edge of the city.

23. Santiago Church

Coordinates
20.97, -89.62694
In one line
One of Mérida's oldest churches, completed in 1637 in a barrio set aside for the Maya at the city's founding. Tradition holds the first mass in Mérida was celebrated on this very site.

24. San Cristobal Church

Coordinates
20.96472, -89.61806
In one line
A late-Baroque parish church completed in 1796, its twin towers crowning a barrio first settled by central Mexican allies of the conquistadors. The design is attributed to builder Juan de Torres.

25. MACAY Museum

Coordinates
20.96694, -89.62222
In one line
Yucatán's leading contemporary art museum, opened in 1994 in a historic building beside the cathedral. It anchors a permanent collection of regional masters alongside changing exhibitions and an annual outdoor sculpture show.

26. Park of the Americas

Coordinates
20.97389, -89.63056
In one line
A four-block public park built in the 1940s in striking Maya Revival style by architects Manuel and Max Amábilis, with a serpent-columned fountain, an open-air acoustic shell, and a hut-shaped library.

27. Merida Mexico Temple

Coordinates
20.96578, -89.63106
In one line
A white marble Latter-day Saint temple dedicated in 2000, the first on the Yucatán Peninsula. Its single spire rises 71 feet, and quarterly sessions are held in the Maya language for nearby communities.

28. Autonomous University of Yucatan

Coordinates
20.96972, -89.62306
In one line
Yucatán's largest university, founded in 1922 by Governor Felipe Carrillo Puerto, with roots in a 1611 colonial college. Its motto is Light, Science and Truth, and it serves tens of thousands of students.

29. Lucas de Galvez Market

Coordinates
20.96278, -89.62
In one line
Inaugurated in 1887 and rebuilt several times since, this sprawling market is Mérida's commercial heart. Across roughly 45,000 square meters, more than 2,000 vendors sell chiles, recados, hammocks, embroidery, and Yucatecan food.

30. Santa Ana Market

Coordinates
20.9725, -89.62167
In one line
A compact neighborhood market beside Santa Ana park, famous for its open-air food stalls. Cooks serve cochinita pibil, panuchos, and sopa de lima at communal tables, drawing locals and visitors for breakfast, lunch, and dinner.

31. Santa Ana Park

Coordinates
20.97194, -89.62139
In one line
A tree-shaded plaza in a colonial barrio shaped in the 18th century, flanked by the Parroquia de Santa Ana, completed in 1733, and a famous food market. Today it hosts weekend fairs, music, and artisan stalls.

32. La Negrita Cantina

Coordinates
20.97083, -89.62528
In one line
A historic corner cantina founded in 1917, once divided between a men's bar and a women's room. Closed in 2011 and rescued in 2013, it now draws locals and visitors for mezcal, craft beer, and live Cuban and tropical music.

33. Santiago Neighbourhood

Coordinates
20.97028, -89.6275
In one line
One of Mérida's oldest barrios, founded in 1542 as an indigenous quarter. Its fortress-like church, completed in 1637, faces a lively park and market. The Maya leader Jacinto Canek was executed in its plaza in 1761.

34. San Sebastian Neighbourhood

Coordinates
20.95889, -89.62694
In one line
A historic barrio southwest of Mérida's center, settled by Maya families after the city's 1542 founding. Its church, rebuilt in 1796 on a former Maya temple, was raised to a parish in 1889. The quarter keeps strong neighborhood traditions.

35. Itzimna Neighbourhood

Coordinates
20.995, -89.61806
In one line
Once a Maya ceremonial village honoring the god Itzamná, this leafy quarter northeast of central Mérida was absorbed into the city. Its colonial chapel sits atop a former temple, and tree-lined streets make it one of Mérida's most graceful neighborhoods.

36. Garcia Gineres Neighbourhood

Coordinates
20.97667, -89.63417
In one line
García Ginerés is a leafy residential neighbourhood west of central Mérida, founded in 1904 on former henequen fields by promoter Joaquín García Ginerés. Once called San Cosme, it remains a quiet enclave of early-twentieth-century villas and shaded streets.

37. Centenario Zoo

Coordinates
20.96889, -89.64361
In one line
The Parque Zoológico del Centenario opened on September 18, 1910, to mark a century of Mexican independence.

38. General Cemetery

Coordinates
20.95722, -89.63
In one line
Inaugurated on November 3, 1821, Mérida's Cementerio General holds more than 25,000 graves on a former livestock hacienda. Its tree-lined avenues are lined with mausoleums in neoclassical, Gothic, neo-Maya and Art Deco styles, declared Municipal Cultural Heritage in 2013.

39. Kukulcan Alamo Park Stadium

Coordinates
20.94121, -89.59598
In one line
Opened in 1982 and seating about 16,000, Parque Kukulcán Alamo is the home of baseball's Leones de Yucatán. Named for the Maya feathered-serpent deity Kukulkán, the stadium has hosted several of the team's Mexican League championship seasons.

40. Carlos Iturralde Stadium

Coordinates
20.94583, -89.59361
In one line
Opened in 1987 and seating about 15,000, Estadio Carlos Iturralde Rivero is Mérida's football ground and home of Venados F. C. It is named for Carlos Iturralde Rivero, the Yucatecan footballer who played for Mexico's national team.

41. Yucatan Siglo XXI Convention Centre

Coordinates
21.03344, -89.62955
In one line
Inaugurated in 1999 in northern Mérida, the Yucatán Siglo XXI Convention Centre hosts conferences, concerts and sporting events. Its halls bear Maya names, and the largest, Salón Chichén Itzá, seats up to 12,000 people. A major expansion was completed in 2020.

42. Korean Migration Centennial Monument

Coordinates
21.0326, -89.6278
In one line
Dedicated in 2005, this Mérida monument marks one hundred years since 1,033 Korean labourers reached Yucatán in 1905 to work the henequen plantations. A small tower and plaque, it commemorates a hardship-filled migration and the Korean Mexican community born from it.

Roots Earth in short

Roots Earth has audio stories about 5,665 places in 130 cities, 25 countries and 6 regions, written by local people.

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  • Download a city's audio, then it plays without a connection
  • Audio stories in English and German in every city, and in Spanish, Italian, French, Dutch and Albanian in 126 of the 130 cities

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