Secretariat of Public Education Main Headquarters
Encyclopedia
The Secretariat of Public Education Main Headquarters building is on the northeast corner of San Ildefonso and Republica de Argentina streets in the historic center of Mexico City
, and used to be part of the largest and most sumptuous convents in New Spain
. It was secularized in the 19th century and then taken over by the then-new Secretariat of Public Education after the Mexican Revolution
in the early 20th century. The new agency did extensive remodeling work on the building, including covering nearly all the walls of the two inner courtyards with murals. These murals include Diego Rivera
’s first large-scale mural project, which he completed in 1928.
pilasters. At the top of the facade is a balustrade. In the center, there is a group of sculptures representing the Greek gods Apollo
, Minerva
and Dionysus
done by Ignacio Asunsolo, which were placed here to emphasize the building’s now-secular function. At each end of the facade are Aztec and Spanish-style weapons respectively. The side facade is the original. Most of it is simply covered in tezontle
, but there are two reliefs in white stone, “The Visit of the Archangel Gabriel” and The Martyrdom of Lawrence of Rome, which were the first of their kind done in Mexico
. The belltower is covered in tilework.
The main entrance is marked by three opening with metal grille
s that date from the beginning of the 20th century. Inside the entrance, there is a wide nave with a groin vault
and two large murals by Roberto Montenegro
. There are two interior courtyards that are joined by a stairway that was added by Miguel Constanzó in the 18th century. In the hallway to the first courtyard are allegories
of Mexico, Spain
, India
, Greece
and reliefs that allude to the arts by sculpture Miguel Centurión in the passage to the second courtyard.
at the time, Rivera painted small hammers and sickles next to his signature on the panels in this building.
The larger of the two is the Labor Courtyard, with the ground floor containing panels such as “Entrance to the Mine,” “Leaving the Mine” The “Sugar Mill””Tehuantepec Bath” “Market Scene” “The Weavers” “The Dyers” “The Liberation of the Rural Worker” and “Smelting: Opening the Oven.” Another work, called “The Rural Teacher” shows teachers working in farming areas. This and the “Liberation of the Rural Worker” relate most directly to the Mexican Revolution. Moving from the ground floor to the first floor, the stairway contains murals of landscapes. To the north by the elevator is a landscape of Tehuantepec
, and to the south there is a series of murals that refer to the various landscapes and climates found in Mexico, from the coasts to the mountains.
First-floor panels are dedicated to intellectual pursuits with grisailles depicting chemistry, medicine, geology, electricity and x-rays. There is also an image of a many-armed Hindu
-like goddess bearing a hammer and sickle.
In the stairwell to the second floor is a panel called “The Painter, the Sculptor and the Architect” and contains what Rivera considered to be one of his best self-portraits. The grisaille
that is on this level is devoting to painting and contains the “four elements”:light (represented by the sun), color (represented by a rainbow), Man and geometry
. It is considered to be a synthesis of Rivera’s concept of painting.
The second floor has murals titled “The Life of Zapata” and “This is how the Proletariat Revolution will be” with a communist theme. There are also portraits of heroes of the Mexican Revolution including Emiliano Zapata
and Felipe Carrillo Puerto
.
The smaller, or Fiesta Courtyard, has murals by Rivera and other artists. Ground floor has the murals that give the courtyard its name “The Deer Dance” “The Corn Fiesta” “May 1 Meetings” With geometric planes and concentration of figures, “The Day of the Dead
” is representative Rivera composition. The upper rectangle is occupied by a trio of a peasant, a revolutionary soldier and a worker with the opposite side containing images representing the clergy, militarism and capitalism. Other panels here are “Good Friday on the Santa Anita Canal” and “The Ribbon Dance.”
On the first floor of the Fiesta Courtyard is the coats-of-arms of the different Mexican states painted by Jean Charlot
and Amado de la Cueva
. On the opposite side of this floor are works by two other painters: “Washerwomen” and “Loadbearers” by Jean Charlot and “The Little Bull” and “The Dance of the Santiagos” by Amado de la Cueva.
The second level contains another Rivera work, “The Arsenal,” which has an image of Frida Kahlo
distributing arms to revolutionaries. In the far left section of the panel appears the face of David Alfaro Siqueiros
. Generally speaking, this corridor is devoted to revolutionary songs called “corrido
s” that crown and link the murals.
Another mural of note is that done by Carlos Mérida
, who painted a depiction of the Little Red Riding Hood
story in the children’s room. Not all of the murals painted here in the first decades of the 20th century have survived. Roberto Montenegro painted a number but only his portrait of Sor Juana Inés de la Cruz survives. Venezuela
n painter Cirilio Almeida Crespo is represented by only two remaining works, a portrait of Simón Bolivar
and frieze
containing the coats-of-arms of Latin American republics.
. It was founded as a convent for Spanish and Creole
women, becoming the largest and the richest in the city, allowing each nun here to have her own apartment with servants. It was able to accommodate guests such as the Marchioness Calderon de la Barca, who declared the convent to be a palace, telling the nuns that of all the convents she had visited in Europe and Mexico, none were as large or fine as this one.
The convent with its church were built between 1639 and 1648, and consecrated in 1645. The project was funded by Alvaro de Lorenzana, who spent 100,000 pesos, an enormous sum at the time. It underwent major repairs in the 18th century due to deterioration. This was done by architect Miguel Constanzó.
in 1861, but its associated church continued to operate as such until 1917. The property became state property and the complex has housed a number of institutions such as the Jurisprudence School, the National Girls’ School and others until after the Mexican Revolution. From 1911 and 1922, the new Secretariat of Public Education (SEP), took over the building at the corner of San Ildefonso and Rep. de Argentina and extensively remodeled it, hiring engineer Federico Méndez Rivas. Since that time, the SEP has taken over a number of other buildings in the city to house offices, but this one still remains the main headquarters
Historic center of Mexico City
The historic center of Mexico City is also known as the "Centro" or "Centro Histórico." This neighborhood is focused on the Zócalo or main plaza in Mexico City and extends in all directions for a number of blocks with its farthest extent being west to the Alameda Central The Zocalo is the largest...
, and used to be part of the largest and most sumptuous convents in New Spain
New Spain
New Spain, formally called the Viceroyalty of New Spain , was a viceroyalty of the Spanish colonial empire, comprising primarily territories in what was known then as 'América Septentrional' or North America. Its capital was Mexico City, formerly Tenochtitlan, capital of the Aztec Empire...
. It was secularized in the 19th century and then taken over by the then-new Secretariat of Public Education 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 early 20th century. The new agency did extensive remodeling work on the building, including covering nearly all the walls of the two inner courtyards with murals. These murals include 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...
’s first large-scale mural project, which he completed in 1928.
Description of the building
The main facade, which faces San Ildefonso Street, is designed to have a classical Greek look. The overall color is white and it has three levels. The decorations on the bottom level have a softer, more rounded appearance but the upper two have sharper lines and a more monumental feel, containing IonicIonic order
The Ionic order forms one of the three orders or organizational systems of classical architecture, the other two canonic orders being the Doric and the Corinthian...
pilasters. At the top of the facade is a balustrade. In the center, there is a group of sculptures representing the Greek gods Apollo
Apollo
Apollo is one of the most important and complex of the Olympian deities in Greek and Roman mythology...
, Minerva
Minerva
Minerva was the Roman goddess whom Romans from the 2nd century BC onwards equated with the Greek goddess Athena. She was the virgin goddess of poetry, medicine, wisdom, commerce, weaving, crafts, magic...
and Dionysus
Dionysus
Dionysus was the god of the grape harvest, winemaking and wine, of ritual madness and ecstasy in Greek mythology. His name in Linear B tablets shows he was worshipped from c. 1500—1100 BC by Mycenean Greeks: other traces of Dionysian-type cult have been found in ancient Minoan Crete...
done by Ignacio Asunsolo, which were placed here to emphasize the building’s now-secular function. At each end of the facade are Aztec and Spanish-style weapons respectively. The side facade is the original. Most of it is simply covered in tezontle
Tezontle
Tezontle is a porous, extrusive, igneous, volcanic rock used extensively in construction in Mexico. It is usually reddish in color.-Uses:Tezontle can be mixed with concrete to form lightweight concrete blocks, or mixed with cement to create stucco finishes. Tezontle is often used as the top...
, but there are two reliefs in white stone, “The Visit of the Archangel Gabriel” and The Martyrdom of Lawrence of Rome, which were the first of their kind done in Mexico
Mexico
The United Mexican States , commonly known as Mexico , is a federal constitutional republic in North America. It is bordered on the north by the United States; on the south and west by the Pacific Ocean; on the southeast by Guatemala, Belize, and the Caribbean Sea; and on the east by the Gulf of...
. The belltower is covered in tilework.
The main entrance is marked by three opening with metal grille
Grille
A grille or grill is an opening of several slits side by side in a wall or metal sheet or other barrier, usually to let air or water enter and/or leave but keep larger objects including people and animals in or out.-Spelling:In the United States, "grille" is used to differentiate the automotive...
s that date from the beginning of the 20th century. Inside the entrance, there is a wide nave with a groin vault
Groin vault
A groin vault or groined vault is produced by the intersection at right angles of two barrel vaults. The word groin refers to the edge between the intersecting vaults; cf. ribbed vault. Sometimes the arches of groin vaults are pointed instead of round...
and two large murals by Roberto Montenegro
Roberto Montenegro
Roberto Montenegro Nervo was a Mexican painter, illustrator, and stage designer....
. There are two interior courtyards that are joined by a stairway that was added by Miguel Constanzó in the 18th century. In the hallway to the first courtyard are allegories
Allegory
Allegory is a demonstrative form of representation explaining meaning other than the words that are spoken. Allegory communicates its message by means of symbolic figures, actions or symbolic representation...
of Mexico, Spain
Spain
Spain , officially the Kingdom of Spain languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Spain's official name is as follows:;;;;;;), is a country and member state of the European Union located in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula...
, India
India
India , officially the Republic of India , is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by geographical area, the second-most populous country with over 1.2 billion people, and the most populous democracy in the world...
, Greece
Greece
Greece , officially the Hellenic Republic , and historically Hellas or the Republic of Greece in English, is a country in southeastern Europe....
and reliefs that allude to the arts by sculpture Miguel Centurión in the passage to the second courtyard.
The murals
Covering all of the walls of these two courtyards are murals. 235 panels or 1585.14 m2 of this mural work was done by Diego Rivera between 1923 and 1928. This was Rivera’s first major large-scale mural project. The themes center around workers, and the glorification of all things Mexican, especially the Mexican Revolution. Rivera named the two courtyards “Labor Courtyard” and the other the “Fiesta Courtyard” based on the themes he painted in each. Because he was affiliated with the Communist PartyCommunist party
A political party described as a Communist party includes those that advocate the application of the social principles of communism through a communist form of government...
at the time, Rivera painted small hammers and sickles next to his signature on the panels in this building.
The larger of the two is the Labor Courtyard, with the ground floor containing panels such as “Entrance to the Mine,” “Leaving the Mine” The “Sugar Mill””Tehuantepec Bath” “Market Scene” “The Weavers” “The Dyers” “The Liberation of the Rural Worker” and “Smelting: Opening the Oven.” Another work, called “The Rural Teacher” shows teachers working in farming areas. This and the “Liberation of the Rural Worker” relate most directly to the Mexican Revolution. Moving from the ground floor to the first floor, the stairway contains murals of landscapes. To the north by the elevator is a landscape of Tehuantepec
Tehuantepec
Tehuantepec is a city and municipality in the southeast of the Mexican state of Oaxaca. It is part of the Tehuantepec District in the west of the Istmo Region. The area was important in pre Hispanic period as part of a trade route that connected Central America with what is now the center of...
, and to the south there is a series of murals that refer to the various landscapes and climates found in Mexico, from the coasts to the mountains.
First-floor panels are dedicated to intellectual pursuits with grisailles depicting chemistry, medicine, geology, electricity and x-rays. There is also an image of a many-armed Hindu
Hindu
Hindu refers to an identity associated with the philosophical, religious and cultural systems that are indigenous to the Indian subcontinent. As used in the Constitution of India, the word "Hindu" is also attributed to all persons professing any Indian religion...
-like goddess bearing a hammer and sickle.
In the stairwell to the second floor is a panel called “The Painter, the Sculptor and the Architect” and contains what Rivera considered to be one of his best self-portraits. The grisaille
Grisaille
Grisaille is a term for painting executed entirely in monochrome or near-monochrome, usually in shades of grey. It is particularly used in large decorative schemes in imitation of sculpture. Many grisailles in fact include a slightly wider colour range, like the Andrea del Sarto fresco...
that is on this level is devoting to painting and contains the “four elements”:light (represented by the sun), color (represented by a rainbow), Man and geometry
Geometry
Geometry arose as the field of knowledge dealing with spatial relationships. Geometry was one of the two fields of pre-modern mathematics, the other being the study of numbers ....
. It is considered to be a synthesis of Rivera’s concept of painting.
The second floor has murals titled “The Life of Zapata” and “This is how the Proletariat Revolution will be” with a communist theme. There are also portraits of heroes of the Mexican Revolution including Emiliano Zapata
Emiliano Zapata
Emiliano Zapata Salazar was a leading figure in the Mexican Revolution, which broke out in 1910, and which was initially directed against the president Porfirio Díaz. He formed and commanded an important revolutionary force, the Liberation Army of the South, during the Mexican Revolution...
and Felipe Carrillo Puerto
Felipe Carrillo Puerto
Felipe Carrillo Puerto was a Governor of the Mexican state of Yucatán. He was born in the town of Motul, Yucatán, and was of partly indigenous Mayan background; he was rumored to be a descendant of the Nachi Cocom dynasty of Mayapan. He was a socialist who favored land reform, women's suffrage,...
.
The smaller, or Fiesta Courtyard, has murals by Rivera and other artists. Ground floor has the murals that give the courtyard its name “The Deer Dance” “The Corn Fiesta” “May 1 Meetings” With geometric planes and concentration of figures, “The Day of the Dead
Day of the Dead
Day of the Dead is a Mexican holiday celebrated throughout Mexico and around the world in many cultures. The holiday focuses on gatherings of family and friends to pray for and remember friends and family members who have died. It is particularly celebrated in Mexico, where it attains the quality...
” is representative Rivera composition. The upper rectangle is occupied by a trio of a peasant, a revolutionary soldier and a worker with the opposite side containing images representing the clergy, militarism and capitalism. Other panels here are “Good Friday on the Santa Anita Canal” and “The Ribbon Dance.”
On the first floor of the Fiesta Courtyard is the coats-of-arms of the different Mexican states painted by Jean Charlot
Jean Charlot
Louis Henri Jean Charlot was a French painter and illustrator, active in Mexico and the United States. Charlot was born in Paris. His father, Henri, owned an import-export business and was a Russian-born émigré, albeit one who supported the Bolshevik cause. His mother Anna was herself an artist...
and Amado de la Cueva
Amado de la Cueva
Amado de la Cueva was a Mexican painter.De la Cueva studied in Rome. After his return to Mexico in September 1922, he painted amongst others together with Diego Rivera his murals at the Secretaría de Educación Pública...
. On the opposite side of this floor are works by two other painters: “Washerwomen” and “Loadbearers” by Jean Charlot and “The Little Bull” and “The Dance of the Santiagos” by Amado de la Cueva.
The second level contains another Rivera work, “The Arsenal,” which has an image of Frida Kahlo
Frida Kahlo
Frida Kahlo de Rivera was a Mexican painter, born in Coyoacán, and perhaps best known for her self-portraits....
distributing arms to revolutionaries. In the far left section of the panel appears the face of David Alfaro Siqueiros
David Alfaro Siqueiros
José David Alfaro Siqueiros was a social realist painter, known for his large murals in fresco that helped establish the Mexican Mural Renaissance, together with works by Diego Rivera and José Clemente Orozco, and also a member of the Mexican Communist Party who participated in an...
. Generally speaking, this corridor is devoted to revolutionary songs called “corrido
Corrido
The corrido is a popular narrative song and poetry form, a ballad, of Mexico. The songs are often about oppression, history, daily life for peasants, and other socially important information. It is still a popular form today, and was widely popular during the Mexican Revolution and Nicaraguan...
s” that crown and link the murals.
Another mural of note is that done by Carlos Mérida
Carlos Merida
Carlos Mérida was a Guatemalan artist.-Early life:Mérida was born in Guatemala City to a family from Quetzaltenango, boasting a Maya and Zapotec heritage which was often an inspiration in his art. He began studying music but became hearing-impaired due to illness. He then changed to the visual arts...
, who painted a depiction of the Little Red Riding Hood
Little Red Riding Hood
Little Red Riding Hood, also known as Little Red Cap, is a French fairy tale about a young girl and a Big Bad Wolf. The story has been changed considerably in its history and subject to numerous modern adaptations and readings....
story in the children’s room. Not all of the murals painted here in the first decades of the 20th century have survived. Roberto Montenegro painted a number but only his portrait of Sor Juana Inés de la Cruz survives. Venezuela
Venezuela
Venezuela , officially called the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela , is a tropical country on the northern coast of South America. It borders Colombia to the west, Guyana to the east, and Brazil to the south...
n painter Cirilio Almeida Crespo is represented by only two remaining works, a portrait of Simón Bolivar
Simón Bolívar
Simón José Antonio de la Santísima Trinidad Bolívar y Palacios Ponte y Yeiter, commonly known as Simón Bolívar was a Venezuelan military and political leader...
and frieze
Frieze
thumb|267px|Frieze of the [[Tower of the Winds]], AthensIn architecture the frieze is the wide central section part of an entablature and may be plain in the Ionic or Doric order, or decorated with bas-reliefs. Even when neither columns nor pilasters are expressed, on an astylar wall it lies upon...
containing the coats-of-arms of Latin American republics.
La Encarnación
This building was part of the ex-convent of Santa María de la Encarnación del Divino Verbo, commonly referred to simply as “La Encarnación” founded in 1594 by nuns of the Conceptionist OrderConceptionists
The Order of the Immaculate Conception , also known as the Conceptionists, are a contemplative Order of nuns. For five hundred years, they followed the Poor Clare Rule, but were recognized as a separate Order, ....
. It was founded as a convent for Spanish and Creole
Casta
Casta is a Portuguese and Spanish term used in seventeenth and eighteenth centuries mainly in Spanish America to describe as a whole the mixed-race people which appeared in the post-Conquest period...
women, becoming the largest and the richest in the city, allowing each nun here to have her own apartment with servants. It was able to accommodate guests such as the Marchioness Calderon de la Barca, who declared the convent to be a palace, telling the nuns that of all the convents she had visited in Europe and Mexico, none were as large or fine as this one.
The convent with its church were built between 1639 and 1648, and consecrated in 1645. The project was funded by Alvaro de Lorenzana, who spent 100,000 pesos, an enormous sum at the time. It underwent major repairs in the 18th century due to deterioration. This was done by architect Miguel Constanzó.
Reform War until 1923
Like all other convents and monasteries in Mexico, this convent was disbanded after the Reform WarReform War
The Reform War in Mexico is one of the episodes of the long struggle between Liberal and Conservative forces that dominated the country’s history in the 19th century. The Liberals wanted a federalist government, limiting traditional Catholic Church and military influence in the country...
in 1861, but its associated church continued to operate as such until 1917. The property became state property and the complex has housed a number of institutions such as the Jurisprudence School, the National Girls’ School and others until after the Mexican Revolution. From 1911 and 1922, the new Secretariat of Public Education (SEP), took over the building at the corner of San Ildefonso and Rep. de Argentina and extensively remodeled it, hiring engineer Federico Méndez Rivas. Since that time, the SEP has taken over a number of other buildings in the city to house offices, but this one still remains the main headquarters