The Museum of the Americas occupies the upper floors of the Cuartel de Ballajá, the last big Spanish military barracks built before independence — a vast neoclassical block finished in 1864 and capable of housing a thousand troops. The museum's permanent collections cover Caribbean popular art, African heritage in the Americas, and Indian art of the New World; the rotating shows are strong on contemporary Puerto Rican artists.
The Cuartel itself is worth wandering for the architecture: two-storey arcaded balconies looking onto a parade-ground courtyard, with cool corridors that are a welcome retreat from the heat. Allow ninety minutes for the museum, plus time to walk to the adjacent Plaza del Quinto Centenario with its conspicuous totem-like obelisk.