The Library of the National Autonomous University of Mexico (UNAM) in Mexico City

 

 

UNAM  -  National Autonomous University of Mexico

Construction of the UNAM Central Library began in 1950 and the library opened its doors in 1956. Designed by the architect and muralist Juan O’Gorman, it’s been classified as a masterpiece of functionalist architecture ever since.

 

The library contains one of the largest book collections in Mexico, with over 600,000 books.  The library needed to be primary windowless to protect this vast collection from the rays of the sun.

The base of the building is made of the volcanic rock on which the building rests and the reliefs there reflect the motifs of the pre-Hispanic cultures of Mexico.  The façades were covered with natural colored stones that shaped the mural titled Historical Representation of the Culture. The mural is one of the largest in the world.

Carlos Lazo (Manager of the Ciudad Universitaria project) was very excited, especially by the idea of making a mural made just out of thousands of colored stones, something that never had been done at that scale.

     “The general theme of the mural is related to the evolution of culture. In the upper part, I represented the cosmological symbols, on the north wall, figures allusive to the pre-Hispanic culture, on the south wall, I developed the argument about colonial culture, on the sides, I referred to the modern age, and on the east side, I represented the atom as a cosmological symbol of our century. I had originally projected the Newtonian concept of universal attraction on the west side. I had to vary it by having to represent there the university shield with the corresponding motto, which, in my opinion, should have gone in the rectory building."   ~   Juan O’Gorman

 

The murals serves as a codex. That’s to say, it’s a narrative of the history of the country and the national university.

 

North Wall: Pre-Hispanic Past

The north wall of the building represents images of pre-Hispanic Mesoamerican cultures and their deities. The theme turns around a life-death duality.  

 

Flowing throughout the entire mural are the chinampas, blue waterways created by the Aztecs.  The national emblem is the image of an eagle holding a snake in its beak perched on top of a cactus. 

 

West Wall: The University and Modern Mexico

 

It's the National University in all its grandeur with the coat-of-arms holding the most central position. Other representations include the studies of science, culture, sports and engineering.

At the very top, we can see a banner flying in the wind with the words the National Autonomous University of Mexico in large letters. Below is one Mexican eagle and one Andean condor holding large shield with a map of Latin Americas with a star where Mexico located.  Around the shield is the phrase, “For my people, the spirit shall speak.”

South Wall: Colonial Past

Depicts the arrival of the Spanish in Mexico and the Conquest, and a dual God and Devil.  It also presents the physical trappings of that period of history, including churches, guns, maps, manuscripts and monks.                                 

 East Wall: Contemporaneous World

Portrays Mexican modernity, with the Revolution as one of its themes. In the center, a model of the atom generates the principle of life.  And the difference of the moon and the sun look down from above.

What a beautiful campus!

The entrance going into the library.

 

It was the perfect afternoon to visit this extraordinary building.