Mexican murals are an important part of Mexican culture and history. Mural

Mural

A mural is any piece of artwork painted or applied directly on a wall, ceiling or other large permanent surface. A particularly distinguishing characteristic of mural painting is that the architectural elements of the given space are harmoniously incorporated into the picture.-History:Murals of...

s have been used for political, social, environmental, and cultural representation.

Mayans and Aztecs

Mural painting has deep roots in the history of Mexico. For thousands of years indigenous people of Mexico, like the Mayan

Maya civilization

The Maya is a Mesoamerican civilization, noted for the only known fully developed written language of the pre-Columbian Americas, as well as for its art, architecture, and mathematical and astronomical systems. Initially established during the Pre-Classic period The Maya is a Mesoamerican...

s and Aztec

Aztec

The Aztec people were certain ethnic groups of central Mexico, particularly those groups who spoke the Nahuatl language and who dominated large parts of Mesoamerica in the 14th, 15th and 16th centuries, a period referred to as the late post-classic period in Mesoamerican chronology.Aztec is the...

s, painted on their temples and palaces with scenes of everyday life. Some included human sacrifices, battles, celebrations, dancers, musicians, and the clothing they wore. These murals show in detail how the Mayans and Aztecs ancient civilization were back then in history.

Mexican Muralism

Starting in the early 1900s some of the greatest muralists of Mexico were called Los Tres Grandes, Diego Rivera

Diego Rivera

Diego María de la Concepción Juan Nepomuceno Estanislao de la Rivera y Barrientos Acosta y Rodríguez was a prominent Mexican painter born in Guanajuato, Guanajuato, an active communist, and husband of Frida Kahlo . His large wall works in fresco helped establish the Mexican Mural Movement in...

, José Clemente Orozco

José Clemente Orozco

José Clemente Orozco was a Mexican social realist painter, who specialized in bold murals that established the Mexican Mural Renaissance together with murals by Diego Rivera, David Alfaro Siqueiros, and others...

, and David Siqueiros. Their work had a profound impact on artist internationally. After the Mexican Revolution

Mexican Revolution

The Mexican Revolution was a major armed struggle that started in 1910, with an uprising led by Francisco I. Madero against longtime autocrat Porfirio Díaz. The Revolution was characterized by several socialist, liberal, anarchist, populist, and agrarianist movements. Over time the Revolution...

 in the 1920s, these artists were sensitive to the impact of social and political conditions in Mexico. They used their art as a visual dialogue with their native people.

Post Muralism

The Chicano Movement

Chicano Movement

The Chicano Movement of the 1960s, also called the Chicano Civil Rights Movement, also known as El Movimiento, is an extension of the Mexican American Civil Rights Movement which began in the 1940s with the stated goal of achieving Mexican American empowerment.-Origins:The Chicano Movement...

 of the 1960s that stem from the Mexican Muralist found a place in southwest United States. The Chicano muralists had their own unique style. Their inspiration for their murals, document history, express cultural identities, and inspire political social activism that was influenced by the Civil Rights Movement

Civil rights movement

The civil rights movement was a worldwide political movement for equality before the law occurring between approximately 1950 and 1980. In many situations it took the form of campaigns of civil resistance aimed at achieving change by nonviolent forms of resistance. In some situations it was...

.

Today, Chicanos still use the walls of public places to place the history, struggles, hopes, needs, and dreams of its people.