In the Nineteen Forties, Mexican artist Diego Rivera had a dream: to construct a sacred place to preserve and display his lifelong collection of pre-Hispanic art.
The Anahuacalli Museum in Mexico City, which celebrates its sixtieth anniversary this month, is every thing he hoped for.
Inch by inch, its pyramid structure honors the Mexica worldview. Among its 60,000 archeological pieces, dozens represent ancient deities. And though foreigners visit regularly, its workshops and year-round activities aim to attach the local communities to their historic roots.
“This is Diego Rivera’s dream come true: an area during which art, nature and the general public coexist,” said María Teresa Moya, director of the Anahuacalli.
The Mexican muralist was aligned with a Communist ideology. He and his wife — renowned artist Frida Kahlo — openly criticized the Catholic Church. But their fascination with Mexico’s pre-Hispanic spirituality is palpable through their work.
In Rivera’s case, he bought and picked up archeological pieces, depicted them on his murals and designed the Anahuacalli for his or her exhibition.
“Diego had an excellent respect, affection and admiration for our ancestors,” Moya said. “Everything he designed or created was inspired by our origins.”
Mexico’s pre-Hispanic worldview was so necessary to him that it even influenced the Anahuacalli’s architecture. While its essential floor represents the underworld — and feels dimly lit and cold — the second and third levels were inspired by the earthly and celestial worlds, which makes them seem warmer and flooded by light.
Though Mexica heritage is dominant within the museum’s design, visitors may also appreciate other Mesoamerican influences, said Aldo Lugo, a researcher who points out the Mayan, Toltec and Teotihuacan elements through guided tours of the museum.
The three-story pyramid was inaugurated in September 1964, seven years after Rivera died. Its name, Anahuacalli, translates from the Nahuatl language as “house surrounded by water.”
According to a recent government publication, the Anahuacalli is distinctive amongst Mexican museums in being situated in an ecological reserve of about six acres (2.6 hectares) protecting nearby natural world. The museum itself was built with volcanic rock to fuse with its natural surroundings.
Rivera and Kahlo first considered the place as an oasis where they may move away from the thrill of the town. Later, at the same time as their plans modified and Rivera decided to construct the museum, the couple desired to be buried within the Anahuacalli’s underworld.
The adjoining niches of the essential floor are currently empty. Kahlo’s stays are situated in her “Blue House” and Rivera was buried within the Rotunda of Illustrious Persons, a national cemetery site that honors those that made major contributions to Mexico’s history and culture. “But we keep the niches, just in case they find yourself here,” Lugo said.
During a one-hour visit through the Anahuacalli, its various rooms and cabinets will be read as a book.
From the beginning, Coatlicue, mother of the gods, greets all visitors from the ceiling. Her myth was special for the pre-Hispanic understanding of the world: a battle between her son and daughter — the sun and the moon — explained the origins of day and night.
The Anahuacalli’s essential floor is targeted on rituals and burials. The first level displays archeological pieces depicting on a regular basis life, while the second level — representing the celestial world — is dedicated to the gods.
The museum’s partitions and stairs bear meanings too. Each of the Anahuacalli’s 4 corners depict a natural element — earth, wind, water and fire — and their respective pre-Hispanic deities. The stairs represent the transition between the stages of 1’s existence.
“The Anahuacalli is a temple,” Moya said. “And one in every of a sort.”
To rejoice its sixtieth anniversary, the museum planned various activities reflecting on Mexico’s artistic and cultural landscape.
Aside from a gastronomic festival in June and monthly lectures on Rivera’s legacy — which the general public can attend through December — neighbors who knew the artist are working on a video to preserve the oral collective memory of the museum and the neighborhood where it’s situated.
“We want the community to maintain feeling that this space belongs to them,” Moya said.
Contemporary artists are sometimes invited to host exhibitions at Anahuacalli. “Atomic amnesia,” by Mexican sculptor Pedro Reyes, will likely be on exhibit from Sept. 13 through January 2025.
His 20 works on display, a press release said, were inspired by one in every of Rivera’s murals, which was highly controversial and mysteriously disappeared, though its sketch is preserved: “The Nightmare of War, The Dream of Peace. A Realist Fantasy (1952).”
Like Rivera, Reyes’ art reflects society. His works are meant to precise the present political landscape and, following in Rivera’s footsteps, he regards his art as a platform to protest and lift awareness.
“Diego was quite controversial,” Moya said. “On the one hand, he had an enormous interest in rescuing our pre-Hispanic heritage, but he also adhered to socialism in an unwavering way.”
“He wanted us to have a look at our past to grasp our present and plant something for the longer term.”
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