The Biblioteca de México José Vasconcelos is a public library in Centro,

Mexico City Mexico City is the capital city, capital and List of cities in Mexico, largest city of Mexico, as well as the List of North American cities by population, most populous city in North America. It is one of the most important cultural and finan ...

across from the Balderas metro station. It is open to the public daily 8:30am–7:30pm.Info
Official site

History

Building

The building was built at the end of the

18th century The 18th century lasted from 1 January 1701 (represented by the Roman numerals MDCCI) to 31 December 1800 (MDCCC). During the 18th century, elements of Enlightenment thinking culminated in the Atlantic Revolutions. Revolutions began to ch ...

to house the Royal Tobacco Factory of

New Spain New Spain, officially the Viceroyalty of New Spain ( ; Nahuatl: ''Yankwik Kaxtillan Birreiyotl''), originally the Kingdom of New Spain, was an integral territorial entity of the Spanish Empire, established by Habsburg Spain. It was one of several ...

. Antonio María de Bucareli, the

Viceroy of New Spain This article lists the viceroys who ruled the Viceroyalty of New Spain from 1535 to 1821 in the name of the monarch of Spain. In addition to viceroys, this article lists the highest Spanish governors of the viceroyalty, before the appointment o ...

commissioned military engineer Miguel Constanzó to design the building, but Miguel Mascaró designed and calculated the cost of the work in 1788. The Academy of San Fernando disapproved the design, so in 1793 it commissioned the construction of the building to the Spanish architect Antonio González Velázquez, director of architecture of the Academy of San Carlos. Four years later the work was suspended, and it was not until 1804 when the architect Ignacio Castera resumed the work until its completion in June 1807. A year later the building was remodeled, and it had other uses besides being a

tobacco Tobacco is the common name of several plants in the genus '' Nicotiana'' of the family Solanaceae, and the general term for any product prepared from the cured leaves of these plants. More than 70 species of tobacco are known, but the ...

factory. In it served as a political prison for the insurgent Don

José María Morelos y Pavón José is a predominantly Spanish and Portuguese form of the given name Joseph. While spelled alike, this name is pronounced very differently in each of the two languages: Spanish ; Portuguese (or ). In French, the name ''José'', pronounced , ...

, from where he emerged to be shot in San Cristóbal Ecatepec. During the

Independence Movement Independence is a condition of a nation, country, or state, in which residents and population, or some portion thereof, exercise self-government, and usually sovereignty, over its territory. The opposite of independence is the status of a ...

, Viceroy Félix María Calleja made the necessary arrangements for the building to be designated as the General Artillery Park, officially becoming a Citadel, on October 19, 1816. Once Independence was achieved, General Guadalupe Victoria used the Citadel building to store weapons. Later, President Vicente Guerrero corrected the exterior layout, expanded and deepened the

moat A moat is a deep, broad ditch dug around a castle, fortification, building, or town, historically to provide it with a preliminary line of defence. Moats can be dry or filled with water. In some places, moats evolved into more extensive water d ...

s that surrounded it, and remodeled its patios and rooms. Due to its architecture, the construction of the Citadel responds to the neoclassical style and sober ornamentation in keeping with the time in which it was built, and due to the solidity of its structure that gives it an appearance of a fortress, it was the scene of several political and military pronouncements such as the cuartelazo of 1913, pronounced by the anti-Maderista forces and better known as “The Tragic Decade.” The Ciudadela building was in charge of military authorities, who used it for various uses such as a weapons warehouse, craftsmanship and armory workshops, political prison, barracks, hospital, laboratory and military health warehouses. Until recently, the La Ciudadela building was shared with offices of the Secretariat of National Defense and the Interior. The building was declared a historical monument in 1931, because it is located in the monument area of the

Historic Center of Mexico 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 (or main plaza) and extending in all directions for a number of blocks, with its fart ...

, and is listed in the respective decree, published in the Official Gazette on April 11, 1980.

Library

On January 30, 1944, the then President of the Republic, General

Manuel Ávila Camacho Manuel Ávila Camacho (; 24 April 1897 – 13 October 1955) was a Mexican politician and military leader who served as the president of Mexico from 1940 to 1946. Despite participating in the Mexican Revolution and achieving a high rank, he cam ...

, granted part of the La Ciudadela property to the Library of Mexico, thanks to the efforts made by

José Vasconcelos José Vasconcelos Calderón (28 February 1882 – 30 June 1959), called the "cultural " of the Mexican Revolution, was an important Mexicans, Mexican writer, philosopher, and politician. He is one of the most influential and controversial pers ...

, who intended to rescue and reorganize the National Library, project that he never saw realized. The Library of Mexico was inaugurated on November 27, 1946, and its first director was

. He served until his death in 1959. After Vasconcelos died, María Teresa Chávez Campomanes became the director, serving until 1979. In December 1987, the Ministry of Public Education ordered the reconstruction and remodeling of the building, a project that was entrusted to the architect Abraham Zabludovsky, National Art Prize winner. Zabludovsky proposed that the building retain the original structure and that a novel structure of transparent steel and glass umbrellas cover the patios, without touching the old building. In 2011, Conaculta had the purpose of restoring and returning the construction to its former splendor and giving way to La Ciudadela, the City of Books. The project also included 21st century innovations and technology in an 18th-century building, as well as a bookstore, reading rooms, digital services, a children's room, an area for people with visual disabilities, a gallery for exhibitions, the recovery of circulation and a comprehensive use of space in an environment of great architectural attractiveness. The new architectural intervention was carried out by the General Directorate of Historical Heritage Sites and Monuments, under the responsibility of the architects Bernardo Gómez-Pimienta and Alejandro Sánchez.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Biblioteca de Mexico Jose Vasconcelos 1946 establishments in Mexico Education in Mexico City Libraries established in 1946 Libraries in Mexico City Public libraries Cuauhtémoc, Mexico City Historic center of Mexico City José Vasconcelos