History
History The immediate background for the Palacio de Bellas Artes (Fine Arts Palace) was the old Teatro Nacional, which was located on the streets 5 de mayo and Vergara (today Bolivar), and it was considered the most important place of the cultural and artistic life of our country during the second half of the 19th century. Given the inevitable growth of the country’s capital, the need to expand, widen and to endow the city center a new infrastructure raised at the beginning of the 20th century. This as a part of an architectural program that intended on one side to beautify Mexico City, and on the other to celebrate the 100th anniversary of the Mexican Independence. The renovation of the old building was first considered but the high price of labour did not allow it and, therefore, the building was destroyed and a new one was erected. The new theater’s location was subject of a detailed inspection by the government and by the Italian architect Adamo Boari. Finally, around the year 1901 they decided that it would be located next to the Alameda Central where the Santa Isabel convent used to be.
Aerial view where you can see Eje central, The Fine Arts Palace and Alameda Park.
Cupola finished made by Géza Maróti Picture: Arq. Francisco Mancilla. Courtesy of DACPAI
General view of the work (ca. 1910) Picture: Arq. Francisco Mancilla. Courtesy of DACPAI
© Jesús H. Abitia, ca. 1934 Courtesy of DACPAI
The construction of the Palacio de Bellas Artes The new history of the Teatro Nacional, later called the Palacio de Bellas Artes, has a complex and a singular dynamic; three important phases of Mexico’s history define it: the Porfirio Díaz Regime, The Mexican Revolution, and the Post-revolutionary period. The construction work formally started with the objective to finish it in four years; nevertheless, budget and technical difficulties delayed its termination. After the breakout of the Revolution in 1910 and the worsening of the country’s economic situation, Adamo Boari returned to Europe in 1916. Until that day, all the building’s exteriors but the cupolas were finished. The idea that the Teatro Nacional was completely abandoned between 1917 and 1929 is difficult to sustain as there was a lot of interest in finishing it and a lot of attempts to do it so. Moreover, the building was used to celebrate important acts of the city life such as conferences and cinematographic exhibitions. From 1930, under Pascual Ortiz Rubio government, the architect Federico E. Mariscal was the one in charge of finishing the Teatro Nacional; however, it was not until 1932 with Alberto J. Pani’s support, the Treasury Secretary, that the labour was revitalized with precise instructions on to make of the building “...seat of a national institution of artistic nature”, that would hold several museums; hence, for the first time in 30 years the building’s name was changed from Teatro Nacional to Palacio de Bellas Artes. Due to the strong investment that the conclusion of the building required, the construction had to respond to social needs and to be for public use. Thus, architect Mariscal finished the Palacio de Bellas Artes on March 10th 1934 with some modifications to the original project.
Architecture The project made by the architect Adamo Boari considered a design that incorporated the technological advances of the best theaters of the time. The construction system of the walls would use a steel and concrete structure covered in marble. The façades and exteriors of eclectic style and classicist tendency show details inspired in Art Nouveau, movement in vogue at the end of the 19th century and at the beginning of the 20th century. For the project’s artistic and technical execution, Boari commissioned foreign famous artists and scenic machinery specialists. Leonardo Bistolfi created the tympanum sculptures for the principal façade; the central figure is a naked woman called The Harmony that is surrounded by figures representing The Inspiration and The Music, forming as a whole The Symphony ensemble. The colossal high-relieves that represent the four female figures placed in the lateral walls were made by the sculptor Alberto Boni. For the façade ornamentation Fiorenzo Gianetti was hired and he created the models that represent the Mexican flora, the masks that reproduce animals’ heads, the human heads that convey diverse emotions, and the eagle and jaguar warriors. All these ornaments were made in Carrara marble. The sculptural group that crowns the copula which is formed by an elliptical base under four winged feminine figures and finished by the Mexican eagle was made by Géza Maróti.
Tympanum’s sculptural group, façade Picture: Bernardo Arcos
Agustín Querol was in charge of creating four Pegasus that were placed in the angles of the stage exterior cube. Later on, they were reinstalled at the Zocalo where they remained until 1928. When the four Pegasus were returned to their original place at the theatre and the building was concluded, a new four meter pedestal was made for them and they were placed in front of the building. The iron works and the forged grill for the lateral walls in which stalks, leaves, palms, snakes, and lyres can be admired were in charge of Alessandro Mazzucotelli, the Mexican Luis Romero completed the work.
The illuminated panel of the show room was designed by Géza Maróti and made of leaded glasses and iron castings. The composition’s theme was the Olympus with the nine muses and Apollo; Maróti’s oeuvre was also the design and the realization of the mosaic wall placed over the proscenium’s arch; the composition represents The theatrical art through the ages and it was made with colored mosaics placed on a gold background with metallic reflections.
Main room’s luminance celling Picture: Bernardo Arcos
The need to have a curtain with a double functionality —decorative when facing the room and fire resistant when facing the stage— took Boari to demand the construction of a steel-welded double wall frame, covered with fluted metal sheets on the stage side and on the other with opalescent glass. The curtain weights more than 20 tons and it is a rigid wall that rises as a gate to protect the public in case of a fire. The design that Boari thought up for the curtain’s decoration was the snow-capped mountains of the Mexican Valley. Its construction was in charge of the artist Harry Stoner; New York’s Tiffany House was hired to make a curtain covered with opalescent glass pieces (Tiffany luster glass). This characteristic makes the glass curtain a unique piece with a great artistic value.
Left: Cristal curtain, proscenium arch, and main room’s partial view Right: curtain or crystal curtain’s details Picture: Lorena Alcaraz Minor
From 1932, with the direction of the architect Federico E. Mariscal, the sculptures for the Legislative Palace were incorporated to the exterior decoration and made by French artists and sculpted in Carrara marble. Both groups placed at the two sides of the principal porch are André Allard’s and represent The Virile Age and The Youth. The other six figures of the balconies’ niches are The Strength, The Peace and The Eloquence and made by Laurent Honoré Marqueste. The last three are The Labour, The Truth and The Law, by Paul Gasq.
The building’s interior was covered with different national and foreign marbles: Carrara’s white, Monterrey’s black, Torreón’s red and Queretaro’s pink. A spectacular Art Deco decoration made in Paris by Edgar Brandt’s house highlights and it incorporates Mexican decorations like iron Mayan masks and bronze cactuses, besides other artistic iron works, balconies, and chandeliers.
Superior: Sculpture group The Youth made by André Allard | Picture: Lorena Alcaraz Minor Inferior: Decorative detail in bronze of the main room’s balconies | Picture: Bernardo Arcos.
The Museo Nacional de Artes Plásticas, currently called the Museo de Palacio de Bellas Artes, was located around the hall’s cube and eight exhibition halls comprises it: Diego Rivera, Jorge González Camarena, José Clemente Orozco, David Alfaro Siqueiros, Paul Westheim, Justino Frenández, Rufino Tamayo and the Nacional hall, the most important of all of them. It is situated in a space that according to the architectonic project, balls and receptions would have taken place, but later on was designated for public use following the Revolution ideals. On the top floor there is a perimeter gallery that used to hold a greenhouse, and that nowadays it is the Museo Nacional de Arquitectura. At the Manuel M. Ponce and Adamo Boari halls, literary, musical, operatic, and plastic arts activities, among others, take place. Likewise, in the hall you can find “El Rincon del Tiempo”, a space where historical heritage exhibitions of the palace are presented. Among the services that the Palacio de Bellas Artes offers to the visitors, there is a bookstore, a restaurant, and special attention to disabled people.
Hall’s general view where you can see The Palace of Fine Arts Museum, the murals’ area, and the Architecture National Museum with a lateral cupola.
Mural Paintings The 17 murals permanently exhibited in the building, and that are part of Museo de Palacio de Bellas Artes collection are: • Diego Rivera: El hombre en el cruce de caminos, Revolución rusa or Tercera Internacional and Carnaval de la vida Mexicana that has four panels: I. México folklorico y turísitico, II La dictadura, III Danza de los huichilobos, and IV Agustín Lorenzo • José Clemente Orozco: La Katharsis • David Alfaro Siqueiros: Nueva democracia, Víctimas de la guerra, Víctimas del fascismo, Tormento de Cuauhtémoc and Apoteosis de Cuauhtémoc • Rufino Tamayo: Nacimiento de la nacionalidad and México de hoy • Roberto Montenegro: Alegoría del viento • Manuel Rodríguez Lozano: La piedad en el desierto • Jorge González Camarena: Liberación
David Alfaro Siqueiros. Apoteosis de Cuauhtémoc fragment. Murals’ area.
Opening On September 29th 1934, President Abelardo L. Rodríguez opened the Palacio de Bellas Artes. The celebrations started with the interpretation of the National Anthem by Mexico’s Symphonic Orchestra and choirs by the National Conservatory and the schools of art for workers, all of them directed by maestro Carlos Chávez. When Antonio Castro Leal, head of the Fine Arts Department and of Secretariat of Public Education —and the first person in charge of the Palacio de Bellas Artes— finished his speech, Mexico’s Symphonic Orchestra released the oeuvre which was composed for this specific moment by maestro Carlos Chávez: Sinfonía proletaria. Finally, the Mexican President declared the building opened with a speech and with an unveiling of a plate. The morning ceremony finished with a visit to the new Museo Nacional de Artes Plásticas where the audience could admire the collections of the Antigua Academia de San Carlos and the prehispanic sculptures from the then Museo Nacional de Arqueología, Historia y Etnografía, as well as the exhibitions Artes populares, Estampas mexicanas, Artes del libro and Códices precolombinos. That same day at 21:00 hours and during the gala performance, Mexico’s Symphonic Orchestra played Beethoven’s Symphony No. 6 Pastoral under Carlos Chávez direction. The ceremony finished with the presentation of the play La verdad sospechosa written by Juan Ruíz de Alarcón who was in charge of the so-called Compañía Dramática of the Palacio de Bellas Artes, directed and performed by Alfredo Gómez de la Vega and by the first actress María Tereza1 Montoya.
1 The actress wrote her artistic name with “z”.
The maximum culture and arts scenario Nowadays, the Palacio de Bellas Artes is the maximum arts scenario in our country and it is considered as one of the world’s most important and beautiful cultural spaces. This great architectural feat receives around a million and a half people that can enjoy more than a thousand artistic activities per year. In 1987, the Palacio de Bellas Artes was declared artistic monument while the Mexico City’s Historic Center, where the Palacio the Bellas Artes is placed, was declared a World Heritage Site by UNESCO. Apart from being the scenario of the artistic groups of the Instituto Nacional de Bellas Artes like the National Symphonic Orchestra and the Chamber of Fine Arts, the national companies of dance, opera and theater, the Madrigalistas choir, the Fine Arts performers and the Solistas Ensamble, the Palacio de Bellas Arts has host the world’s most recognized musicians, singers, dancers and groups such as the Philharmonic Orchestras of Israel and Saint Petersburg, as well as the Washington’s Symphony, María Callas, Giuseppe Di Stefano, Plácido Domingo, Luciano Pavarotti, Jessye Norman, Dmitri Hvorostovsky, Jordi Savall, Zubin Mehta, Mstislav Rostropovich, Yo-Yo Ma, Rudolph Nureyev, Merce Cunningham Dance Company, the American Ballet Theatre and Les Ballets of Monte Carlo, among others. Eighty years after its opening, the Palacio de Bellas Artes has confirmed its cultural vocation with a wide program of national and international artistic presentations, thus reassuring to be the greatest cultural place in our country.
Proscenium arch’s detail that shows God Apollo in the middle
Merce Cunningham Dance Company
Dmitri Hvorostovsky
Zubin Mehta
Jessye Norman
Maria Callas
Giuseppe Di Stefano
Jordi Savall Rudolph Nureyev
Sankai Juku
Yo-Yo Ma
PlĂĄcido Domingo
Luciano Pavarotti
Palacio de Bellas Artes Av. Juárez and Eje Central Information module 5512 2595 ext. 1152, 1153 and 1154 Museo del Palacio de Bellas Artes Information module 5512 2593 ext. 1132 Museo Nacional de Arquitectura Architecture and Building Artistic Patrimony Conservation Address Av. Juárez núm. 4, second floor 5510 2475 Books and art Educal Fine Arts Monday from 11:00 to 19:00 hours Tuesday to Sunday from 10:00 to 19:00 hours 5512 2593 ext. 1131 Palace of Fine Arts Gift shop Tuesday to Sunday from 12:00 to 19:00 hours And in events day until their beginning 5512 2595 ext. 1150 Palace cafeteria Monday from 12:00 to 18:00 hours | Form Tuesday to Saturday from 10:00 to 20:00 hours | Sunday from 10:30 to 20:30 hours Direct 55185070; Switch 5512 2593 ext. 1130 Underground parking lot Friday and Saturday from 7:00 to 1:00 hours Monday to Thursday 7:00 to 12:00 hours Costs: First hour $28 (The prices can change with out a warning). The Price changes according to the fraction’s cost after the first hour. It does not have valet parking.
INBA 01800 904 4000 - 5282 1964 Bellas Artes INBA Oficial
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