Historic Center of Mexico City,
Cultural Heritage of Humanity
The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) has taken it upon itself to promote, identification, protection and conservation of cultural and natural heritage it considers especially valuable to humanity.
Under the terms of the Convention, there are two kinds of heritage sites: 1) Cultural heritage sites consisting of monuments, building groups and other sites valuable for their historical significance, aesthetic qualities, archeological importance, or that otherwise outstanding because of scientific, ethnological or anthropological considerations; and 2) Natural heritage sites including topographical formations, exceptional biological or geological phenomena, habitats of endangered species, and other areas deserving conservation because of scientific or aesthetic considerations1.
The Historic Center of downtown Mexico City, a fine example of the first kind of heritage sites, and the wet lands of Xochimilco, under the terms of the second, were declared Cultural Heritage of Humanity Sites by the UNESCO on December 11, 1987.
The UNAM owns or holds in trust several architecturally significant buildings lying within the area declared Cultural Heritage of Humanity in the Historic Center of Mexico City.
The UNAM and the Historic Center2
Until the middle of the of the twentieth century, most of the schools and faculties of the UNAM were in fact housed in downtown buildings dating from the seventeenth, eighteenth and nineteenth centuries that had been renovated and adapted during the first half of the twentieth century. Because of the prominence of the University’s educational, cultural and social activities, the area to the northeast of the Plaza Mayor, or Zocalo as it is popularly known, came to be known as theUniversity barrio.It was not until 1954, with the inauguration of the University City campus, that these schools and faculties began to migrate to their new facilities in the south of the city.
University Barrio3
The National Autonomous University of Mexico currently occupies ten historically significant buildings in the downtown district of Mexico City. These buildings continue to be used for academic activities, cultural diffusion and research, as well as for housing social services benefiting society.
The conservation of these invaluable architectural gems and the broad diversity of activities that they continue to host provide ample evidence that UNAM’s presence in the barrio remains long after most university undertakings were moved to the University City campus in 1954. These historical buildings stand as unswerving witnesses to UNAM’s trajectory, tradition and commitment to the Nation. Through its many outreach activities from the heart of the city and the nation itself, UNAM remains at the hub of cultural and scientific learning.
^1 http://www.centrohistorico.df.gob.mx/fideicomiso/historia_ciudad.html
^2 Arq. Prof. Alejandro Suárez Pareyón, Facultad de Arquitectura, Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México UNAM, en
http://www.laciudadviva.org/export/sites/laciudadviva/04_experiencias/ Mejico/Centro_Urbano_UNAM/Centro_Historico_Mexico_y_la_Unam_bajacalidad.pdf
^3 http://www.puec.unam.mx/barrio%20universitario.html
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