The Museo Universitario del Chopo (meaning, " poplar"; locally nicknamed ''Crystal Palace'' or simply ''El Chopo'', in

Spanish Spanish might refer to: * Items from or related to Spain: **Spaniards are a nation and ethnic group indigenous to Spain **Spanish language, spoken in Spain and many Latin American countries **Spanish cuisine Other places * Spanish, Ontario, Cana ...

) (''Chopo University Museum'') is located at Doctor Enrique González Martínez Street in the

Colonia Santa María la Ribera Colonia Santa María la Ribera is a colonia located in the Cuauhtémoc borough of Mexico City, just west of the historic center. It was created in the late 19th century for the affluent who wanted homes outside of the city limits. The colonia rea ...

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 ...

. It has collections in

contemporary art Contemporary art is the art of today, produced in the second half of the 20th century or in the 21st century. Contemporary artists work in a globally influenced, culturally diverse, and technologically advancing world. Their art is a dynamic com ...

, and is part 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).

Geography

The building is located at #10 Doctor Enrique González Martínez Street in the Colonia Santa María la Ribera, a neighborhood of Mexico City. The streets of Colonia Santa María la Ribera were originally named after trees and flowers. Fittingly, Doctor Enrique González Martínez Street was previously named Poplar ("chopo") Street. Museo Universitario del Chopo 10

History

The building was designed by

Bruno Möhring Bruno Möhring (11 December 1863 – 25/26 March 1929) was a German architect, urban planner, designer and a professor in Berlin. He was one of the most important architects of the Jugendstil style in Germany. He received his education at the Be ...

as a pavilion for a 1902 art and textile exhibition in

Düsseldorf Düsseldorf ( , , ; often in English sources; Low Franconian and Ripuarian: ''Düsseldörp'' ; archaic nl, Dusseldorp ) is the capital city of North Rhine-Westphalia, the most populous state of Germany. It is the second-largest city in th ...

Germany Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after Russia, and the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany is situated betwe ...

. It was manufactured in

Oberhausen Oberhausen (, ) is a city on the river Emscher in the Ruhr Area, Germany, located between Duisburg and Essen ( ). The city hosts the International Short Film Festival Oberhausen and its Gasometer Oberhausen is an anchor point of the European Rout ...

by Gutehoffnungshütte. After the exhibition fair was over, three of the building's four halls were purchased by José Landero y Coss for the establishment of the Compañía Mexicana de Exposición Permanente, shipped to Mexico, and reassembled between 1903 and 1905 at the Colonia Santa María la Ribera site, under the auspices of the engineers Hugo Dorner Bacmeister and Aurelio Luis Ruelas. In 1905, Landero y Coss' company went bankrupt and in 1909, a lease was signed with the then Department of Public Instruction and Fine Arts, to allocate the building to the National Museum of Natural History. In the following year, the building was used to house the Japanese Pavilion at the Universal Exhibition of Mexico, which was held as part of Mexico's celebrations of the centenary of Independence. It was at this time when the building was known as the ''Crystal Palace'', due to its steel beams, columns, and windows, which resembled the 1851 structure in London, There is no record of any other activity carried on the premises until the December 1, 1913, when it opened as the National Museum of Natural History, whose founding collection came from the collection of Culture Museum, located in the City Centre, with sections in Botany, Zoology, Biology, Mineralogy and Geology. In 1926, the widow of

Andrew Carnegie Andrew Carnegie (, ; November 25, 1835August 11, 1919) was a Scottish-American industrialist and philanthropist. Carnegie led the expansion of the American steel industry in the late 19th century and became one of the richest Americans i ...

donated a

Jurassic The Jurassic ( ) is a Geological period, geologic period and System (stratigraphy), stratigraphic system that spanned from the end of the Triassic Period million years ago (Mya) to the beginning of the Cretaceous Period, approximately Mya. The J ...

dinosaur, ''

Diplodocus ''Diplodocus'' (, , or ) was a genus of diplodocid sauropod dinosaurs, whose fossils were first discovered in 1877 by S. W. Williston. The generic name, coined by Othniel Charles Marsh in 1878, is a neo-Latin term derived from Greek διπ� ...

'', to the museum, which defined the identity of the museum for decades. In 1964, the museum was closed and the collections were transferred to other museums and university departments. After being abandoned for close to ten years, in 1973 UNAM began to rehabilitate the space; on 25 November 1975, the Chopo Museum was inaugurated. From 2004–2010, an update, expansion and renovation of the museum was done by UNAM and the architecture firm TEN Arquitectos. a

Architecture and fittings

The original iron and glass building is in the Jugendstil-style. It measures in size with towers which rise . The varnished roof is of natural pine; it is treated with synthetic rubber for waterproofing. Diplodocus carnegie

Exhibits

The museum offers exhibitions and performances, including contemporary music and dance, theater, film screenings and lectures. As of 2013, the museum's director is

José Luis Paredes Pacho José Luis Paredes Pacho (Mexico City, March 17, 1961) is a Mexican musician, researcher, writer and cultural advocate. He is the founder of the new cycle of Poesía en voz alta Mexican poetry festival, Radical Mestizo's Festival de Mexico music ...

References

External links