David Alfaro Siqueiros murals on the National Autonomous University of Mexico's campus

Recently I was in Mexico City leading one of my tours and our visit to the the National Autonomous University of Mexico (UNAM) was inspiring.  The library designed by Juan O'Gorman was simply magnificent and the murals by David Alfaro Siqueros were an extra bonus to see.  (There are actually three murals but I only captured images of two of them).

The Mexican Muralist Movement started in the early 1920s in which the Mexican government commissioned artists to make art that would educate the mostly illiterate population about the country’s history and present a powerful vision of its future. The movement followed the Mexican Revolution.  Inspired by the idealism of the Revolution, artists created epic, politically charged public murals that stressed Mexico’s pre-colonial history and culture and that depicted peasants, workers, and people of mixed Indian-European heritage as the heroes who would forge its future. The murals were executed in techniques including fresco, encaustic, mosaic, and relief.  David Alfaro Siqueiros along with José Clemente Orozco and  Diego Rivera were considered the leaders of the Mexican Muralism.

 

The Rectory Tower is a Modernist architectural triumph and heavily influenced by Le Corbusier.  A prism of glass facades, it is built merely of reinforced concrete columns and slabs.  The building is the work of  Mario Pani , Enrique del Moral and Salvador Ortega Flores.   (The lower left are two friends that were on my tour).

Las Fechas de La Historia de Mexico o El Derecho a La Cultura

The mural depicts an extended arm with two hands with interlaced fingers and a third that sticks out with a pencil pointing to an open book.   The book has some of the county's important dates on it:  1520 - 1810 and 1857 - 1910.  These dates represent significant historical dates, such as the Spanish conquest of the Aztec empire in 1520 and the defeat of the Spanish troops by insurgent forces in 1810.  The Constitution of 1857 established individual rights and 1910 was the start of the Mexican Revolution.

  Nuevo Símbolo de la Universidad ~ New Symbol of the University

One can see a Great Condor and Golden Eagle biting into a vibrant sun, which represents truth and knowledge.  Note how the wings of the birds wrap around the edges of the walls continuing into the building.

What a treat not only to see the magnificent library but to see these powerful murals!

 

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.