OLD SCHOOL OF THE DAY
San Ildefonso College Museum and Cultural Center
San Ildefonso Street
Mexico City, Mexico
Colegio de San Ildefonso currently is a museum and cultural center in Mexico City, considered to be the birthplace of the Mexican muralism movement. San Ildefonso began as a prestigious Jesuit boarding school. The Jesuits arrived in Mexico in 1572. With evangelization of the native population mostly complete in central Mexico, this order soon turned to establishing schools, especially schools for Criollo youth. They founded numerous colleges both in Mexico City and the outlying provinces, but the most important of these was San Ildefonso,
The college was founded 1588. In 1618, it merged with the old San Pedro y San Pablo College, which was nearly in ruins, and gained a royal seal from Philip III of Spain. The complex is composed of six sections, five of which are colonial baroque. They are the Colegio Grande, Colegio Chico, the chapel, El Generalito, and the courtyard of los Pasantes, all completed in 1749. One modern neo-baroque section, the Amphitheater Bolívar, was completed in 1911.
After the Reform War of 1858-1860, the college gained educational prestige again as National Preparatory School. This school and the building closed completely in 1978, and then reopened as a museum and cultural center in 1992. The museum has permanent and temporary art and archeological exhibitions in addition to the many murals painted on its walls by José Clemente Orozco, Fernando Leal, Diego Rivera, and others. The complex is located between San Ildefonso Street and Justo Sierra Street in the historic center of Mexico City.
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