Mexico City

On the upper floors of Bellas Artes, there are some extraordinary murals.

This is "The Man at the Crossroads", by Diego Rivera, 1934

http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_e2vg19PMiM4/SwrOlXJxxeI/AAAAAAAAETE/XjuDul-vZVI/s1600/el+hombre.jpg

It is obviously about the confrontation between Capitalism and Communism.

I guess you all know Rivera was a Troskyte. See this detail.

https://encrypted-tbn1.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcQKVHC82yvpgSXAe54W0AGb-3oVbnRC8iUqPGtx6anWCdurLep1eA

And Charles Darwin rationalism is also depicted:

http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_tvQTKgsRWnM/SbtvQOfUIEI/AAAAAAAADFM/jAGReYHpq1U/s400/darwin+rivera.JPG

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Another important mural on the upper floor is "New Democracy", by Siqueiros, 1944

http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_7x8JjpaRQBI/TOvORXtf3FI/AAAAAAAADfo/mwngsvYUDNg/s1600/z%2BLa%2Bnueva%2Bdemocr%25C3%25A1cia.%2BD.%2BA.%2BSiqueiros.jpg

The woman is democracy, with a frigian berret (French Revolution) a torch of liberation and a flower on hope in her hands. She's strong and has broken the chains. A third hand appears from her body and strikes Fascism, a dead nazi soldier.

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Oh, by the way, these are astounding photos in sequence.

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The third important mural is Catharsis, by José Clemente Orozco, 1934

http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_ygfiEh3u_Bw/TMTFC6cdNgI/AAAAAAAAAA8/-eGr_3YpwwM/s1600/jcocatarsis.jpg

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Other sights inside Bellas Artes.

http://fotos-paisajes.net/wp-content/uploads/2009/03/1388906468_812df267ff.jpg

http://mexico.cnn.com/media/2010/08/31/palacio-bellas-artes.jpg

http://www.pavorael.com/mexico/la_ciudad_de_mexcio/images/palacio%20de%20bellas%20artes%20interior%20tres.bmp.jpg

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@fbaezer,

For whatever reasons, including a boyfriend who introduced me to him at ucla, a petition to get him out of jail, and then and later, his paintings, the sweep of them, I've been a Siqueiros person.
Of course I never understood the background information; big on the paintings.

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Next to Bellas Artes lies the Alameda, the Americas oldest park.
It was founded in 1592. That is 32 years before the Dutch "bought" Manhattan from the indians.

http://aristeguinoticias.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/11/Alameda_Remodelada-10-854x440.jpg

This painting is from 1855, by José María Velasco

http://www.travelbymexico.com/blog/imgBase/2012/08/Vista-de-la-Alameda-desde-un-globo.-O%CC%81leo-sobre-tela-de-Jose%CC%81-Mari%CC%81a-Velasco-1855.-%C2%A9-INAH.jpg

This litograph is from the late XVII Century

http://tenoch.scimexico.com/wp-content/uploads/2008/01/alameda.jpg

And this is one of the earlier engravings:

http://www.milenio.com/media/6b5/935068e3fe3677fa175e15b3628c76b5_int470.jpg

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And this is how the Alameda looks now, after a recent refurbishing:

http://www.publimetro.com.mx/_internal/gxml!0/4dntvuhh2yeo4npyb3igdet73odaolf$guj1xhug3kzkwxqbfucfece5lm6d9qu/Alameda_remodelada-11.jpeg

http://cdn.animalpolitico.com/files/Alameda_remodelada-2.jpg

http://www.ciudadmexico.com.mx/atractivos/imagenes/alameda.jpg

http://www.eluniversal.com.mx/img/2012/11/Ciu/ALAMEDA_DF-INAUGURACION_300.jpg

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One important part was to expell the street vendors and peddlers who infested it, and made it dirty.

http://static.tvazteca.com/imagenes/2011/02/565124.jpg

http://www.reporte.com.mx/media/files/reporte/alameda_central_ambulantes_01.jpg

See the difference:

http://www.seduvi.df.gob.mx/portal/files/boletindigital/junio/imagen1.jpg

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A feature in Alameda is the monument to Juárez, the Hemicycle:

http://lahistoriadejuarez.files.wordpress.com/2011/06/hemiciclojuarez.jpg

A detail:

http://static.tvazteca.com/imagenes/2012/48/Hemiciclo-rez-1741695.jpg

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Do you have any idea of then all the diagonals happened? (reminds me of Sixtus V and his streetmaking.)

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@ossobuco,

The diagonals of the original design are there.
See the first semi-aerial picture of the Alameda next to Bellas Artes.

You can also notice that the old church of the early image still exists (it is called la Santa Veracruz).

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@fbaezer,

Wasn't there a palace in that park in the early 1960's? My wife and I had our honeymoon in Mexico City and Acapulco, and that memory still lingers. We stayed in a hotel across the street from that park that had a painting at the entrance by Diego Rivera. All hazy....

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@fbaezer,

I saw them but was wondering when there were designed - they were there in 1855, anyway. Well, I'll noodle around and see if I can figure it out.

The original green part of the park was at the eastern end (1592), and a remodel including the space at the western end was done in the late 1700's.
Don't mind me, I get nosy about park histories.

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@cicerone imposter,

There was no palace inside the park. There was a kiosk.
There was a crystal building on the side of the park, the Librería de Cristal, a bookstore.

And you stayed at the famous Hotel Del Prado!
I'll tell you what happened to it on the next posts.

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In front of the Alameda lies Juarez Avenue.

It looked like this in September 1985, after the Big Earthquake:

http://cjaronu.files.wordpress.com/2012/08/271159_233541153334579_6571373_n1.jpg

http://www.jornada.unam.mx/2010/09/19/fotos/a02n1cul-1.jpg

It looks like this now:

http://media-cdn.tripadvisor.com/media/photo-s/00/12/ba/b6/hotel-and-mall-in-same.jpg

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This was the hotel Cicerone Imposter and his wife stayed on in the early 60s:

http://www.cronistasdf.org.mx/media/DIR_41601/DIR_101301/Postal$20Del$20Prado.JPG

It was badly damaged with the earthquake and had to be destroyed.
At the same time, a very famous mural by Rivera, inside the hotel, had to be preserved.

https://encrypted-tbn3.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcT8N9vnAj1P5jRlv2287Y0gN4asN6bhxW7a17fHtKmpmmWUw4O8

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Next to the Alameda we find the Diego Rivera Museum and his mural "Dream of a Sunday Afternoon in the Alameda" (1948)

http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-86QureP2h8s/TfJm6EIUIkI/AAAAAAAABtk/u4eQp0o0hBo/s400/068b-mexico-df-murales-museo-mural-diego-rivera-sueno-de-una-tarde-de-domingo-en-la-alameda-central.jpg

The history of Mexico strolls in the park:

http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2374/1663123359_2a57627321_o.jpg

150 characters, Juarez with the Constitution, dictator Porfirio Díaz asleep and old, Madero (on the extreme right) waving his hat, Catrina -the elegant death-, and Diego Rivera himself as a child with a frog (he said he was as ugly as a frog). Behind Diego, you can spot his wife, Frida Kahlo.
You have to know a lot of Mexican history to identify most of the characters.

http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-kAd9-UPgjD4/TdlLuxQ9P8I/AAAAAAAAAIQ/GjDr5lY1Rhc/s1600/RIVERA%257E1.JPG

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In the radio ad for the show at the Art Gallery of Ontario, they really hype it up. It runs something like: "She was a tequila slamming bisexual enigma, he was a gun-toting communist Casanova . . . " I really need to go see that show.

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@fbaezer,

I saw this painting on one of my visits to MC. The view from the balacony is pretty good! I also posted a section of this painting in one of my earlier post.

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