Zacatecas is the principal city within the municipality in Mexico of the same name, and the capital and the largest city of the state of Zacatecas. Located in north-central Mexico, the city had its start as a Spanish mining camp in the mid-16th century. Native Americans had already known about the area's rich deposits of silver and other minerals. Due to the wealth that the mines provided, Zacatecas quickly became one of the most important mining cities in New Spain. The area saw battles during the turbulent 19th century, but the next major event was the Battle of Zacatecas during the Mexican Revolution when Francisco Villa captured the town, an event still celebrated every anniversary. Today, the colonial part of the city is a World Heritage Site, due to the Baroque and other structures built during its mining days. Mining still remains an important industry. The name Zacatecas is derived from the Zacateco people and has its roots in Nahuatl. The name means "people of the grasslands".
The National Autonomous University of Mexico is a public research university in Mexico. A portion of Ciudad Universitaria is a UNESCO World Heritage site that was designed and decorated by some of Mexico's best-known architects and painters of the 20th century. The campus also hosted the main events of the 1968 Summer Olympic Games. All Mexican Nobel laureates are alumni or faculty of UNAM. UNAM is known for its rigorous admissions, with acceptance rates often under 10%. Its research and education are also globally recognized for their excellence and impact. UNAM was founded, in its modern form, on 22 September 1910 by Justo Sierra as a secular alternative to its predecessor, the Royal and Pontifical University of Mexico. UNAM was also the birthplace of the student movement of 1968.
The University of the Cloister of Sor Juana is a private university located in the former San Jerónimo Convent in the historic center of Mexico City. This convent is best known for having been the home of Sor Juana Inés de la Cruz for over twenty five years, she produced many of her writings here. After the convent was closed in the 19th century, the large complex was divided and was home to a number of institutions and businesses, including a large dance hall in the mid 20th century. In the 1970s, the government expropriated the complex, explored it and began the restoration process. In 1979, the current university was founded at this site and it is currently the benefactor and guardian of the complex. The institution offers bachelors, two masters and two certificates, mostly in the humanities. The institution also sponsors or co-sponsors a number of cultural and educational activities, mostly situated in the historic center of the city.
Roberto Montenegro Nervo was a painter, muralist and illustrator, who was one of the first to be involved in the Mexican muralism movement after the Mexican Revolution. His most important mural work was done at the former San Pedro and San Pablo monastery but as his work did not have the same drama as other muralists, such as Diego Rivera, he lost prominence in this endeavor. Most of his career is dedicated to illustration and publishing, portrait painting and the promotion of Mexican handcrafts and folk art.
Carlos Mérida was a Guatemalan artist who was one of the first to fuse European modern painting to Latin American themes, especially those related to Guatemala and Mexico. He was part of the Mexican muralism movement in subject matter but less so in style, favoring a non-figurative and later geometric style rather than a figurative, narrative style. Mérida is best known for canvas and mural work, the latter including elements such as glass and ceramic mosaic on major constructions in the 1950s and 1960s. One of his major works 4000m2 on the Benito Juarez housing complex, was completely destroyed with the 1985 Mexico City earthquake, but a monument to it exists at another complex in the south of the city.
The historic center of Mexico City, also known as the Centro or Centro Histórico, is the central neighborhood in Mexico City, Mexico, focused on the Zócalo and extending in all directions for a number of blocks, with its farthest extent being west to the Alameda Central. The Zocalo is the largest plaza in Latin America. It can hold up to nearly 100,000 people.
Tepotzotlán is a city and a municipality in the Mexican state of Mexico. It is located 40 km (25 mi) northeast of Mexico City about a 45-minute drive along the Mexico City-Querétaro at marker number 41. In Aztec times, the area was the center of a dominion that negotiated to keep most of its independence in return with being allied with the Aztec Triple Alliance. Later, it would also be part of a "Republic of the Indians," allowing for some autonomy under Spanish rule as well. The town became a major educational center during the colonial period when the Jesuits established the College of San Francisco Javier. The college complex that grew from its beginnings in 1580 would remain an educational center until 1914. Today this complex houses the Museo del Virreinato, with one of the largest collections of art and other objects from this time period.
The José Luis Cuevas Museum is located just off the Zócalo within the Historic center of Mexico City, in Mexico City, Mexico. The museum and Church of Santa Inés were built as parts of the Convent of Santa Inés complex. The museum is in the convent's colonial era residential hall.
The Academy of San Carlos is located at 22 Academia Street in just northeast of the main plaza of Mexico City. It was the first major art academy and the first art museum in the Americas. It was founded in 1781 as the School of Engraving and moved to the Academia Street location about 10 years later. It emphasized the European classical tradition in training until the early 20th century, when it shifted to a more modern perspective.
The Caricature Museum is located in an 18th-century Baroque building in the historic center of Mexico City. It was opened in 1987 to preserve and promote the history of Mexican cartooning, done for both political and entertainment purposes. The historic building it occupies was originally the home of Cristo College, a royal college established in 1612.
Colegio de San Ildefonso, currently is a museum and cultural center in Mexico City, considered to be the birthplace of the Mexican muralism movement. San Ildefonso began as a prestigious Jesuit boarding school, and after the Reform War it gained educational prestige again as National Preparatory School. This school and the building closed completely in 1978, then reopened as a museum and cultural center in 1992. The museum has permanent and temporary art and archeological exhibitions in addition to the many murals painted on its walls by José Clemente Orozco, Fernando Leal, Diego Rivera, and others. The complex is located between San Ildefonso Street and Justo Sierra Street in the historic center of Mexico City.
Federico Heraclio Cantú Garza was a Mexican painter, engraver and sculptor. While considered to be a member of the Mexican muralism movement, his style was noticeably different, mostly for adhering to older and more academic forms of painting and sculpture. He had his most success exhibiting in the United States and Europe, but he did murals and sculptures in Mexico. His best known work is a sculpture called La maternidad which was adapted as the logo of the Instituto Mexicano de Seguro Social (IMSS).
The Palace of the Inquisition stands on the corner of República de Brasil and República de Venezuela streets in Mexico City, Mexico. As neither side of the building faces Santo Domingo Plaza, the entrance is placed at a canted corner to face the plaza. Its long association with the Inquisition, which ended during the Mexican War of Independence, made it difficult to convert to other purposes. However, it eventually became the School of Medicine for the reconstructed National University. When UNAM moved to the Ciudad Universitaria in the 1950s, it retained ownership of this building, eventually converting the structure in what is today the Museum of Mexican Medicine.
The Museo Nacional del Virreinato is located in the former College of San Francisco Javier in Tepotzotlán, Mexico State, Mexico. It belongs to Consejo Nacional para la Cultura y las Artes. The complex was built by the Aztecs, and used by the Jesuits starting in the 1580s. Three centers of learning were founded in the complex: a school to teach indigenous languages to Jesuit evangelists, a school for native boys, and the College of San Francisco Javier, to train Jesuit priests. The complex comprises three sections: the college area, with dormitories, a library, a kitchen, and a domestic chapel; the Church of San Francisco Javier; and the Church of San Pedro Apostol. The former college and the Church of San Francisco Javier have been converted into the Museo del Virreinato, with the former college area housing a large collection of art and ordinary objects from the colonial era, and the Church of San Francisco Javier housing one of the most important collections of Churrigueresque altarpieces in Mexico. The Church of San Pedro Apostol is the only part of the entire complex that is still used for religious purposes.
Various types of visual arts developed in the geographical area now known as Mexico. The development of these arts roughly follows the history of Mexico, divided into the prehispanic Mesoamerican era, the colonial period, with the period after Mexican War of Independence, the development Mexican national identity through art in the nineteenth century, and the florescence of modern Mexican art after the Mexican Revolution (1910-1920).
Xavier Guerrero was one of the pioneers of the Mexican muralism movement in the early 20th century. He was introduced to painting through working with his father, who worked in masonry and decorating. However, there is evidence that his ability was mostly self-taught. In 1912, he moved to Guadalajara and began painting murals, then to Mexico City in 1919 just as the muralism movement was about to begin. Most of his work was in collaboration with or subordinate to other painters such as Diego Rivera and David Alfaro Siqueiros, working at the San Ildefonso College, the Secretaría de Educación Pública building and the Universidad Autónoma de Chapingo; however, much of his other work has been lost. While best known for his mural work, his later canvas work is considered to be better.
Museo Nacional de las Culturas Populares is a museum in Mexico City dedicated to Mexico's ethnic and cultural diversity. This diversity not only includes that of its indigenous peoples, but also those of its regions and socioeconomic strata. It was founded in 1982 by anthropologist Guillermo Bonfil Batalla at a time when the country was accepting and promoting its cultural diversity. The museum does not have a large permanent collection but rather focuses on temporary exhibits, concerts, workshops and other cultural and educational events as well as promoting the creation of museums in Mexico to promote local cultures. The museum is also home to the Centro de Información y Documentación Alberto Beltrán, founded in 1971 to promote research and knowledge about Mexican handcrafts and folk art and indigenous ethnicities.
The Museum of Light is a science museum dedicated to the phenomena of light, located in the former San Ildefonso College in the historic center of Mexico City. It was opened in 1996 originally in the former church of the San Pedro y San Pablo College. However, this building was closed in 2010 in order to convert it into the Museum of the Constitutions. The Museum of Light was moved to its current and larger location, but it remains an extension of the Universum museum, the general science museum of the Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México.
