Ciudad Universitaria (University City), Mexico, is the main campus of the
National Autonomous University of Mexico
The National Autonomous University of Mexico ( es, Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México, UNAM) is a public research university in Mexico. It is consistently ranked as one of the best universities in Latin America, where it's also the bigges ...
(UNAM), located in
Coyoacán
Coyoacán ( , ) is a borough (''demarcación territorial'') in Mexico City. The former village is now the borough's "historic center". The name comes from Nahuatl and most likely means "place of coyotes", when the Aztecs named a pre-Hispanic vil ...
borough in the southern part of
Mexico City
Mexico City ( es, link=no, Ciudad de México, ; abbr.: CDMX; Nahuatl: ''Altepetl Mexico'') is the capital and largest city of Mexico, and the most populous city in North America. One of the world's alpha cities, it is located in the Valley o ...
. Designed by architects
Mario Pani
Mario Pani Darqui (March 29, 1911 – February 23, 1993) was a famous Mexican architect and urbanist. He was one of the most active urbanists under the Mexican Miracle, and gave form to a good part of the urban appearance of Mexico City, with ...
and
Enrique del Moral
Enrique del Moral Dominguez (21 January 1905 – 11 June 1987) was a Mexican architect and an exponent of the functionalism movement, a modernist group that included Mexican artists and architects such as José Villagrán Garcia, Carlos Obregà ...
, it encloses the
Olympic Stadium
''Olympic Stadium'' is the name usually given to the main stadium of an Olympic Games. An Olympic stadium is the site of the opening and closing ceremonies. Many, though not all, of these venues actually contain the words ''Olympic Stadium'' as ...
, about 40 faculties and institutes, the Cultural Center, an ecological reserve, the
Central Library, and a few museums. It was built during the 1950s on an ancient solidified lava bed in
Coyoacán
Coyoacán ( , ) is a borough (''demarcación territorial'') in Mexico City. The former village is now the borough's "historic center". The name comes from Nahuatl and most likely means "place of coyotes", when the Aztecs named a pre-Hispanic vil ...
called "El Pedregal" to replace the scattered buildings in downtown
Mexico City
Mexico City ( es, link=no, Ciudad de México, ; abbr.: CDMX; Nahuatl: ''Altepetl Mexico'') is the capital and largest city of Mexico, and the most populous city in North America. One of the world's alpha cities, it is located in the Valley o ...
where classes were given. It was completed in 1954 at a cost of approximately $25 million. At the time of its completion it was the largest single construction project in Mexico since the Aztecs.
"Mexico Builds A Glamour Campus."
''Popular Mechancs'', May 1954, pp. 113-117. It was declared a World Heritage Site
A World Heritage Site is a landmark or area with legal protection by an international convention administered by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO). World Heritage Sites are designated by UNESCO for h ...
by UNESCO
The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization is a specialized agency of the United Nations (UN) aimed at promoting world peace and security through international cooperation in education, arts, sciences and culture. It ...
in 2007.
Although the University has other buildings in Mexico City (mostly for undergraduate studies and cultural purposes), in other Mexican states and in other countries (such as Canada and the United States), Ciudad Universitaria, known simply as "C.U.", is the prime symbol of the University.
Atmosphere
Ciudad Universitaria is an open place popular on Sundays with families that wish to explore its patios, gardens and footpaths that cover most of its . It was built on a lava layer thick which was deposited by the Xitle
Xitle ( Nahuatl, "navel") is a monogenetic volcano in the Ajusco range in Cumbres del Ajusco National Park. It is located in the Tlalpan borough in the southwestern part of Mexico City. It is an ash cone volcano with a conical form, round base, ...
volcano around 100 AD.
Due to its topography and vegetation, there are very few straight roads or paths. Roads tend to be concentric circuits, with buildings located within them. Some can only be reached by a short, 5- to 10-minute walk. Volcanic rock was removed to make room for the buildings, and it was used to make pathways and outer walls. Buildings themselves are made with common materials, concrete and brick being most common, and usually have big windows and gardens, both inside and outside. Most buildings have only two to three floors.
Although different in style, gardens and volcanic rock are a common theme across all buildings with some notable exceptions: the Rectorate Tower and the Central Library. These tall, square-shaped buildings, somewhat isolated from the rest, are adorned by murals made by famous Mexican muralists David Alfaro Siqueiros
David Alfaro Siqueiros (born José de Jesús Alfaro Siqueiros; December 29, 1896 – January 6, 1974) was a Mexican social realist painter, best known for his large public murals using the latest in equipment, materials and technique. Along with ...
(Rectorate Tower) and Juan O'Gorman
Juan O'Gorman (July 6, 1905 – January 17, 1982) was a Mexican painter and architect.
Early life and family
Juan O'Gorman was born on 6 July 1905 in Coyoacán, then a village to the south of Mexico City and now a borough of the Federal Distri ...
(Central Library).
The latter, recognized as the largest mural in the world, covering all sides of the Library, based on Aztec and Spanish motifs and UNAM's coat of arms, makes the Central Library Ciudad Universitaria's most iconic building.
The Campus Central is the original campus built in 1943. Comprising , Insurgentes Avenue cuts across it.
Sculptural space
Inside the ecological reserve stands the Sculptural Space. It is a big round natural solidified lava bed surrounded by many white triangular prisms that seem to radiate from its center, a bit like a sunflower. There are many big and colorful metallic sculptures made by contemporary artists surrounding this area, hence its name.
Education buildings
Vladimir Kaspé Vladimir Kaspé (3 May 1910 – 7 October 1996) was an ethnic Russian, Mexican national architect, teacher, and writer. He was the younger brother of Simon Kaspe. He was married to Masha Shapiro.
He was born in Harbin, China on 3 May 1910. He move ...
and J. Hanhausen designed the economics building, which opened in 1953.[Turner, Jane. ''Encyclopedia of Latin American and Caribbean art'' (Grove encyclopedias of the arts of the Americas, Grove Library of World Art). Grove's Dictionaries, 2000. , 9781884446047. p]
382
Another view
"Other examples of his educational architecture, notable for their formal austerity, include the Liceo Franco-Mexicano (1950) and the Facultad de Econ- omia (1953; with J. Hanhausen), Ciudad Universitaria, both in Mexico City."
Eugenio Peschard
Eugenio Peschard Delgado was a Mexican architect. Prior to joining the faculty of the National University in 1940, Peschard was an architect in the Ministry of Communications and Public Works and a member of the Council of Architecture of the Fe ...
designed the science building; it features a mural by José Chávez Morado
José Chávez Morado (4 January 1909 – 1 December 2002) was a Mexican artist who was associated with the Mexican muralism movement of the 20th century. His generation followed that of Diego Rivera, José Clemente Orozco and David Alfaro Siqu ...
entitled ''The Conquest of Energy''.
Museums
* UNIVERSUM, the Science Museum. It houses interactive exhibits about science, geared to the general public.
*University Museum for the Sciences and Arts (MUCA, Museo Universitario de Ciencias y Artes), holds contemporary art exhibits from Mexican artists and works of art property of the University.
*University Museum of Contemporary Art (MUAC, Museo Universitario Arte Contemporáneo).
Sports facilities
The Mexico '68 Olympic Stadium was built in 1952 and was used to host the 1955 Pan-American Games and the 1968 Summer Olympic Games in Mexico City. It is located on the Campus Central portion of the city, and its stands were built with excavated lava rock. These stands contain reliefs designed by Diego Rivera
Diego MarÃa de la Concepción Juan Nepomuceno Estanislao de la Rivera y Barrientos Acosta y RodrÃguez, known as Diego Rivera (; December 8, 1886 – November 24, 1957), was a prominent Mexican painter. His large frescoes helped establish the ...
. It was also used in the 1986 FIFA World Cup
The 1986 FIFA World Cup was the 13th FIFA World Cup, a quadrennial football tournament for men's senior national teams. It was played in Mexico from 31 May to 29 June 1986. The tournament was the second to feature a 24-team format. Colombia ha ...
. Now it holds football matches for Mexico's City university league, as well as being the home stadium for the university's team in the Mexican Football League, the " Pumas". It also has a race track, used for international invitation-only athletic competition in recent times due to the success of Mexican athlete Ana Guevara
Ana Gabriela Guevara Espinoza (born March 4, 1977) is a Mexican former track and field athlete who specialized in the 400 meters and is the 7th fastest female 300-meter runner in the world, running 300 meters in 35.3 seconds on May 3, 2003. She ...
.
One of the most renowned architecture of the Ciudad Universitaria de Mexico is the area of the "Frontones", which consists of a multipurpose building and ten courts for racquetball and handball game.
There are also football and soccer fields for training of student and children teams. Gyms for martial arts, boxing training and other sports are near the stadium, intended mostly for students.
Culture
C.U. is an important part of Mexico City's cultural life. The campus contains many spaces dedicated to cultural activities from Music, Theatre, Cinema, Visual Arts etc. Most faculties have exhibition spaces and auditoriums used for such purposes.
The University Cultural Centre (Centro Cultural Universitario) is a section of the campus containing the main auditoriums, theatres and cinemas. It also includes one of the most recent Contemporary Art Museums in Mexico, the Museo Universitario de Arte Contemporaneo.
The Centre also includes facilities named for notable figures in Mexicsn history;
*Sala Nezahualcoyotl Nezahualcoyotl may refer to:
* Nezahualcoyotl (tlatoani), the ruler of Texcoco
* Ciudad Nezahualcóyotl, a city in the State of Mexico
* Nezahualcóyotl metro station, in Mexico City
* The Nezahualcóyotl Award, a literary prize in Mexico
* Nezah ...
. Used for orchestral and dance performances.
*Teatro Juan Ruiz de Alarcón
Juan Ruiz de Alarcón (c. 1581 - 4 August 1639) was a New Spain-born Spanish writer of the Golden Age who cultivated different variants of dramaturgy. His works include the comedy ''La verdad sospechosa'' ( es), which is considered a masterpie ...
. Major theatre. Both classical and contemporary works.
*Foro Sor Juana Inés de la Cruz
Sor may refer to:
* Fernando Sor (1778–1839), Spanish guitarist and composer
* Sor, Ariège, a French commune
* SOR Libchavy, a Czech bus manufacturer
* Sor, Azerbaijan, a village
* Sor, Senegal, an offshore island
* Sor River, a river in the Or ...
. Camera theatre. Mainly contemporary plays.
*Centro Universitario de Teatro (CUT). A smaller theatre (about 100 seats) attached to the theatre school.
*Sala José Revueltas
José Revueltas Sánchez (November 20, 1914 in Santiago Papasquiaro, Durango – April 14, 1976 in Mexico City) was a Mexican writer, essayist, and political activist. He was part of an important artistic family that included his siblings Silves ...
and Sala Julio Bracho
Julio Bracho Gavilán (17 July 1909 – 26 April 1978) was a Mexican film director and screenwriter.
Bracho was born as ninth of eleven children of Julio Bracho y Zuloaga and his wife Luz Pérez Gavilán. His sister Guadalupe Bracho Pérez- ...
. Both cinema theatres screen an eclectic selection of Mexican and international films.
*Sala Miguel Covarrubias. A small theatre for dancing.
*Radio UNAM. XEUN 96.1 MHz and 860 kHz in Mexico City; XEYU, short wave
Shortwave radio is radio transmission using shortwave (SW) radio frequencies. There is no official definition of the band, but the range always includes all of the High frequency, high frequency band (HF), which extends from 3 to 30 MHz (10 ...
9600 kHz in the 31-meter international band. Musical, cultural, informative and recreational programming.
World Heritage Site
Designation as a World Heritage Site began as a visit in 2005 to the campus by Francesco Bandarin
Francesco Bandarin (born 26 December 1950) is an Italian architect. He was Director of the UNESCO World Heritage Centre from 2000 to 2010 and then Assistant Director-General of UNESCO for Culture from 2010 to 2018.
Biography
He holds a bachelor ...
who was the Director of the World Heritage Center at the time he recommended it. It was eventually recognized an ingenious example of urban architectural design. It is also noted for its integration of modern architecture, Mexican traditions and artwork, including those by David Alfaro Siqueiros
David Alfaro Siqueiros (born José de Jesús Alfaro Siqueiros; December 29, 1896 – January 6, 1974) was a Mexican social realist painter, best known for his large public murals using the latest in equipment, materials and technique. Along with ...
, José Chávez Morado
José Chávez Morado (4 January 1909 – 1 December 2002) was a Mexican artist who was associated with the Mexican muralism movement of the 20th century. His generation followed that of Diego Rivera, José Clemente Orozco and David Alfaro Siqu ...
and Francisco Eppens.
Transportation
There is a system named Pumabús. There are eleven main bus routes in Ciudad Universitaria provided by the university itself, through its Internal Transport System. Routes 1 through 5 have their base on the west side of the University, near the metro
Metro, short for metropolitan, may refer to:
Geography
* Metro (city), a city in Indonesia
* A metropolitan area, the populated region including and surrounding an urban center
Public transport
* Rapid transit, a passenger railway in an urba ...
exit for Metro Universidad station. Three other routes (6,7,8) have their base on parking number 1 of the Olympic stadium. They are free and run from Monday to Friday, from 06:20 until 22:30 hrs. Cars are allowed inside the campus, and there are also taxis taking passengers in groups, following the official bus routes. Some of these routes have long and short versions, a few first and last stops are the same but the long version takes a different route to less visited zones. Additionally, there is a temporary route to take new students to the registration center.
There are three main points of entry to Ciudad Universitaria, two from the metro ( Metro Universidad and Metro Copilco stations), and Avenida Insurgentes
Avenida de los Insurgentes ( en, Avenue of the Insurgents), sometimes known simply as Insurgentes, is the longest avenue in Mexico City, with a length of on a north-south axis across the city. Insurgentes has its origins in what was during the ...
, running north to south, splitting Ciudad Universitaria in half, where two Metrobús stations provide access to the campus: Ciudad Universitaria and Centro Cultural Universitario. This important avenue is useful to reach other parts of the city, and is near the Olympic Stadium and Cultural Zone.
Lately, a program called "C.U. Limpia" (Clean C.U.) offers 58 bicycle stations around Ciudad Universitaria, these stations contain 200 bicycles each, all of them new, that can be rented by students and returned to any of the other stations around. These have become very popular with students and teachers trying to promote a less polluting mode of transportation.
Security
Despite its size and the lack of entry controls, Ciudad Universitaria is a very safe location for students and visitors alike. There is an internal surveillance group, "Auxilio UNAM" (UNAM Help). They patrol the campus all day, especially on vacation days and weekends. They have no firearms, but have hummers, motorcycles and golf carts. For historical and legal reasons to do with university autonomy, law enforcement officers do not enter Ciudad Universitaria unless specifically requested by the University authorities. Crimes do happen, but are sporadic and usually occur late at night, when most people (both students and employees) have already left. There is also an emergency medical station and a fire station inside campus.
Shops
There are university owned cafeterias around the campus, but they are "franchised" to cooperatives, with the exception of the cafeteria at the Faculty of Sciences (called ''Café Ciencias'') which is run solely by students. These cafeterias are permanent, one floor buildings and very similar to each other. There are also small, permanent shops on the side of some non-schooling buildings, where a full-size cafeteria would be impractical. Some of these shops offer photocopies and office supplies instead of food.
Some semi-permanent shops, selling mostly candies and packaged food, are around the campus. These are built and dismantled every day but are very stable, lasting years in the same place. A few sell University memorabilia, mostly related to the soccer team. Around the campus, but mostly between the Central Library and the Faculty of Philosophy and Literature, one can find people selling crafts as well as music, films and books, some used, some new, but most of them pirated or bootleg
Bootleg or bootlegging most often refers to:
* Bootleg recording, an audio or video recording released unofficially
* Rum-running, the illegal business of transporting and trading in alcoholic beverages, hence:
** Moonshine, or illicitly made ...
ged.
Around the metro stations close to the University there are many food shops, but also bookstores, photocopying, photographic studios and the like. Near the northern station, Copilco, just outside Ciudad Universitaria, there are many printing shops running for some blocks, where students get their theses bound.
Near Metro Universidad station, on the fringe of Ciudad Universitaria, there is the "Tienda UNAM" or UNAM Store. It is big supermarket that offers furniture, clothing, food and beverages, vegetables, electronic and computing equipment, toys and many other things. It is run by the University itself. Meant for university employees and their families, it is open to the general public.
Image gallery
File:Torre II de Humanidades..jpg, Tower II of Humanities.
File:Ciudad Universitaria, UNAM (8).JPG, A view of the main administration building at the Ciudad Universitaria in Mexico City
File:UNAM-ing.jpg, Faculty of Engineering gardens
File:Facultad de Arquitectura.jpg, Faculty of Architecture
File:Medical school building mural, UNAM Ciudad Universitaria campus, Mexico City.jpg, Mural at the School of Medicine.
File:MuralOutsideAdminBldgCU.JPG, A close up of a mural outside of the main administration building
File:FrontEntranceCUStadium.JPG, A view of some open space on campus. The Humanities Research Tower II is in the background
File:MainEntranceofCUStadium.JPG, View of main entrance to stadium
File:StadiumShieldViewCU.JPG, View of school's shield on the stadium
File:Estadio OlÃmpico Universitario.jpeg, External view of the main entrance to the stadium
File:Cumbres del Ajusco.jpg, View of the Ajusco reserve from the Ciudad Universitaria
References
External links
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{{Authority control
*
Campuses
Buildings and structures in Mexico City
Coyoacán
Neighborhoods in Mexico City
Schools in Mexico City
World Heritage Sites in Mexico
Modernist architecture in Mexico
Buildings and structures completed in 1954
1954 establishments in Mexico
Mario Pani buildings