Spanish Cooperation Cultural Centres
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Cultural Centre of Spain in Mexico
The Cultural Centre of Spain in Mexico (the CCSMX) is an innovative, open and inclusive multidisciplinary platform that exhibits the best of art, culture and science from Spain, in Mexico. Its programming is firmly committed to human development as a fundamental process, and it works in close collaboration with local agents. Since its creation in 2002, the Centre has provided a valuable space for cultural cooperation with public institutions, private organisations, NGOs, independent actors and civil society. This cultural space promotes diversity and creative excellence from Spain and Ibero-America and fosters values in interdisciplinary cultural practices. In the historical centre of the Mexican capital, on a site included in the UNESCO World Heritage list in 1988, the CCSMX is located just behind the Metropolitan Cathedral. The building was first constructed on a plot belonging to Hernán Cortés, who had donated it to one of his stewards. Over the years, the mansion house was used as a family residence, a convent, a small hotel, commercial premises and a wine cellar. It was finally abandoned and fell into ruin after the earthquake of 1985. In 1997, the Mexico City authorities donated the site to the government of Spain. The choice was not coincidental, but reflected a commitment made by the Spanish Agency for International Development Cooperation (AECID) to contribute to the recuperation of a historic monument, as part of the project to rehabilitate the city centre. The CCSMX finally opened its doors on 18 November 2002. The reopening of this building, at number 18 Calle Guatemala, was an event of fundamental importance to the cultural scene in Mexico City. Not only was the building completely renovated; a new cultural potential was enabled, attracting a wider public and helping establish the area as a landmark on the city’s cultural circuit.
In this context, “El España” as it is known in the city, rapidly gained a reputation as a space for dialogue among the many forms of interpreting Ibero-American culture, and as an institution dedicated to fostering universal access to culture. Throughout its history, the CCSMX has been an important cultural asset in the city, acting as an agent of cooperation and development and sponsoring initiatives to raise cultural awareness and provide skills training to professionals in the field. Over 700 years of shared history infuse the walls of the building currently hosting this institution, the largest of Spain’s cultural centres abroad. Including the pre-Hispanic foundations, dating from the late fifteenth century, and the contemporary architecture produced by the 2011 renovation, the CCSMX now has over 6,000 square metres dedicated to Ibero-American culture, in the heart of the largest Spanish-speaking country in the world. Mexico has the most important and diverse cultural infrastructure in Latin America. Its cultural framework consists of major institutions, both public and private, industries in the sector, independent agents, artists and self-managed spaces. Mexico is a priority destination for the Spanish Government’s foreign cultural policies and is one of the largest and most significant overseas markets for the Spanish cultural industry. Over the past 17 years, the CCSMX has evolved in parallel with the local cultural context, maturing, becoming stronger and consolidating relations and dialogue with the different actors in the Mexican cultural sector. In the city’s cultural ecosystem, the CCSMX is recognised to be an avant-garde institution, open to all, that seeks to generate and strengthen cultural processes that directly affect the sustainable human development of the city and its inhabitants.
