Coyoacán the Cultural Heart of Mexico City

Coyoacán The Cultural Heart of Mexico City Luis Felipe Sigüenza Acevedo * a r e r r a B e t n a D y b s o t o h P Santa Catarina Plaza. o one in Mexico City doubts trasted with the simplicity of its poorer that Coyoacán is one of its neighborhoods, and the social classes, Nmain cultural centers. It boasts portrayed with irony and candor in Mex - a historical, cultural and artistic patrimo - ican film, took on very different forms, a ny that is one of the most important in all philosophy and a way of living homoge - Latin America. As recently as 50 years neous only during the patron saints days ago, Coyoacán still looked like a provin - fiestas and the biggest fiesta of them all, cial village with its enormous viceroyal The House of Malinche. September 15, Indepen dence Day. parish church, its sidewalks paved with great figures of Mexican film, walked its The pedregales , or stony crags, an area black volcanic stone, settled amidst corn - streets; Frida Kahlo, Diego Rivera and to the south of Coyoacán, the source of fields, orchards and old colonial country Salvador Novo begat many of the scan - raw materials for four centuries of Mex ican houses, the ideal refuge for the intellect dals of their time in the midst of a conser - architecture, finally surrendered around and the arts. In the 1940s Dolores del vative, religious society, that had a hard 1950 to the building of the Na tional Auto - Río and Emilio Fernández, among other time understanding why it had to put up nomous University of Mexico ( UNAM ) with Leon Trotsky living there. campus. This changed life considerably * Tourism Promotion Coordinator for Coyoacán Coyoacán was bursting with contra - in Coyoacán, which was soon populated Ward. dictions: the opulence of its mansions con - by academics and scientists from other 86 The Splendor of Mexico parts of the city and even abroad, thus sub - Two other national museums, the Mu - situated in one of the annexes to the Leon stantially raising the de mand for the cul - seum of Foreign Interventions and the Trotsky House Museum; the library and tural goods that had been developing National Watercolor Museum, also have recording collection of the UNAM Na tio n - simultaneously. Since then, the university their own documentation centers. The al School of Music; and the UNAM Ins - has been one of the most important axes Museum of Foreign Interventions also titute of Bibliographical Studies. The National Folk Cultures Museum. The Blue Circle Gallery’s patio. of Co yoacán’s so cial, economic, demo - has a library focusing mainly on Mex ican But not only are books sold and col - graph ic and, of course, cultural devel - foreign policy. This museum is located lected here; Many nationally known writ - opment. Today, for exam ple, the area has on the same site as the National Manuel ers also live in Coyoacán, like Fer nan do more than 100 book stores, many special - del Cas tillo Negrete Conser vation, Res - Benítez, Luis Everaert —the chronicler izing in tech nical and scientific books, toration and Museography School, in the of Coyoacán— Germán Dehesa, Rafael and at least 20 public libraries, some as historic ex-monastery of Churu busco. Ramírez Here dia, David Martín del important as the Na tio nal Library itself, The National Watercolor Museum, Campo and Jaime Labastida. Im por tant the National Pu bli cations Library and the moved from the more centrally located Ro - publishing houses have their headquar - University City Central Library, which ma neighborhood to Santa Catarina de ters here, among them Siglo XXI Edi tores, together boast four million tomes, one of Co yoacán after the 1985 earthquake des - founded to promote research and pub - the most im portant collections in the troyed its original building, has a large li - lishing in the social sciences, philosophy world. brary that Alfredo Guati Rojo, its founder and the humanities; Editorial Clío, that Recently, the Center for Information and lifelong director, has put at the ser - prints mainly historical and anecdotal and Documentation on Folk Cultures vice of the community. It also has a mag - texts, particularly about recent Mex ican opened there, an annex to the National nificent international collection of water history; and Ediciones Paulinas, spe cial - Folk Cultures Museum, itself founded in colors which makes it the foremost of its ized in religious works. 1982 by the federal government, just off kind in the world. In the area around Río Churubusco, Coyoacán’s central plaza. This space has Also located in Coyoacán are the Ra - or the Churubusco River —today chan - been key to the promotion, dignification fael Galván Library of the Institute for neled into pipelines and covered by a and recovery of Mexican culture. the Right to Exile and Public Freedoms, main thoroughfare—, the federal govern - 87 VOICES of MEXICO • 50 ment set up the National Cinema the que in 1968 to preserve Mexican films which flooded the world market after World War II. Its location was not haphazard: the cinematheque was built right next door to the Azteca Churubusco Studios, opened in 1945. Together with Latin American Film Studios, founded in 1934 in San Pablo Tepetlapa, and Cuauh témoc Studios, later replaced by Studios Amer - ica opened in 1945 in the Coapa coun - tryside, they made Coyoacán the center for full length feature film production in the golden age of Mexican cinema. The National Watercolor Museum. Fire broke out in the cinematheque in March 1982, and it was moved to the halls and first rate fora, the University pre-Hispanic times, when dance and mu - nearby town of Xoco. However, the land Museum of Contemporary Art and the sic filled the religious fiestas of the tepa - where the Azteca Churubusco Studios theater, dance, music and visual arts pro - necas coyohuacas , or the Tepanec residents stood was used to build the National Cen - grams that promote artistic creation among of Coyoacán. Rufino Tamayo also lived ter for the Arts, an enormous complex the university’s almost 300,000 students, there at one time, and today artists like that houses the University of the Arts and teachers and administrative workers. Raúl Anguiano, Diego Rosales, Geles Ca - documentation and informational cen - Besides writers, Coyoacán has been brera, Arturo García Bustos and Vicente ters for music, theater, dance and the home to visual artists like Diego Rivera Rojo make their homes there. visual arts. and Frida Kahlo, who are part of a tradi - The visual arts are displayed in many Two other institutions enrich the life tion that some historians date back to different kinds of venues: private homes, of Coyoacán with their presence: the UNAM National School of Music and the Higher School of Music of the National Institute of Fine Arts. Other schools also make cultural contributions, like the Auto - nomous Metropolitan University Xochi - milco campus, located in the ward of Coyoacán, and the cultural extension pro - gram of the National Polytechnic School, with its campuses in Culhuacán, in the eastern part of the ward. The UNAM Cultural Dissemination Office has played an important role in making aspects of universal culture avail - able to Mexicans and in projecting our own artistic and cultural proposals world - wide. Under its aegis are the UNAM Uni - versity Cultural Center, with its concert Leon Trotsky’s study... and grave. 88 The Splendor of Mexico galleries, plazas and on the street. Galle - ries also often house other forms of art. For example, Isabel Beteta has come to the fore with her Workshops Cultural Center, which also presents dance performances. Raúl Grifaldo keeps oil painting alive next to the San Juan Bautista atrium, while Alexis Covacevich graces a corner of Fran - cisco Sosa Street with his gallery, the Blue Circle. Rina García Lazo, from her seven - teenth-century Red House, also makes her contribution to these efforts at dissemina - tion of art. The Coyoacán Gallery, man - aged by Olivia Mejía, is an example of good taste in the La Conchita neighbor - hood, and the San Angel Gallery shows good art in the El Rosedal area. Coyoacán is synonymous with good theater: Salvador Novo became an im por - tant forebear of today’s vigorous theater tradition when he founded La Ca pilla in the Colonia del Carmen neigh borhood. Today, there are 34 theaters and fora in Coyoacán, some experimental and others commercial. The University Cultural Center has the Juan Ruiz de Alarcón The National Center for the Arts’ office tower has become a landmark in Mexico City. Theater and the Sor Juana Inés de la Cruz Forum; the National Center for the Arts has its Theater of the Arts, the An tonio López Mancera Forum and the Salvador Novo and Raúl Flores Canelo Theaters; a few steps from Coyoacán’s central plaza is the Dramatic Arts Center and the Ge - neral Society of Mexican Writers’ Ro dol - fo Usigli Theater is located in the San Mateo Churubusco neighborhood. Living in Coyoacán means enjoying i ts historic and cultural resources; it means taking a delicious walk on which you can capture the creative spirit of its residents of yesterday and today. Co yoa cán is alive in its culture and gets prouder and proud - er of it every day. The Theater of the Arts in the National Center for the Arts. 89.

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