San Pedro y San Pablo College, Mexico City facts for kids
The San Pedro y San Pablo College is an old church building in the heart of Mexico City. It was built a long time ago, during the time when Spain ruled Mexico.
Today, the church part of the building is home to the Museum of the Constitutions of Mexico. This museum is called Museo de las Constituciones in Spanish. The other parts of the building, which used to be the school, stretch along San Ildefonso Street.
Contents
A Look Back in Time
The San Pedro y San Pablo College was the second school started by the Jesuits in New Spain, which was what Mexico was called back then. The Jesuits were a group of priests who came to Mexico in the 1500s. They wanted to build new missions and schools.
Father Pedro Sanchez led the group that founded this college. It officially opened in 1574. It was called "Colegio Máximo de San Pedro y San Pablo," meaning "Great College of Saints Peter and Paul." It was "Great" because it helped train priests for many cities in Mexico and even Guatemala.
Building the college started in 1576. Rich people like Don Alonso de Villaseca helped pay for it. The church part was built by a Jesuit architect named Diego Lopez de Arbaizo. It took a long time, from 1576 to 1603. The rest of the college was finished in 1645.
The college was made to give a high-level education to young men. These men were called Criollos, meaning they were of European descent but born in Mexico. The school had two main parts:
- The Lesser Schools taught subjects like reading, writing, and languages like Greek and Latin.
- The Superior Schools focused on religion, arts, and philosophy.
The college trained young men for both religious jobs and other important roles in society. It was very popular in the early 1700s, with about 800 students. Two famous students were Francisco Javier Alegre and Francisco Javier Clavijero.
In 1767, the Jesuits were forced to leave Mexico. Because of this, the college closed down. The school building was given to the government. It was used as a military barracks and later for a charity group. The church was given to another group of priests called the Augustinians. They took out most of the church's decorations, like altarpieces and paintings. Many of these beautiful pieces are now in the Mexico City Cathedral. During this time, the building started to fall apart.
The 1800s
Fifty years later, in 1816, the Jesuits were allowed to come back to Mexico. They found the college almost completely ruined. They worked hard to rebuild both the church and the school.
However, the San Pedro y San Pablo College never went back to being a school. This was mostly because Mexico was fighting for its independence from Spain at the time. After Mexico declared independence in 1821, some very important things happened in the church building:
- In 1823, Agustín de Iturbide, who was briefly an emperor, held meetings here. These meetings led to new rules for the empire.
- In 1824, the first meetings of the group that wrote Mexico's first Federal Constitution were held here.
- After Iturbide's short rule, Guadalupe Victoria became the first president of Mexico in this very building.
The church was open for worship again from 1832 to 1850. Then it closed and became a library. For a while, a famous statue of the Virgin of Loreto was kept here for safety. After that, the building was used for many different things. It was a dance hall, an army storage, a school for troubled youth, a mental hospital, and even a customs storage place.
The 1900s
From 1921 to 1927, the building was renovated by José Vasconcelos. He turned it into a "Hall of Discussion" and an office to help fight against people not being able to read or write. Vasconcelos also had the church redecorated with new murals. Famous artists like Xavier Guerrero and Roberto Montenegro painted these important artworks.
From 1927 to 1930, the building became workshops for the Academy of San Carlos. This academy was now part of the National University (UNAM). A music school also used part of the building. This is how the college became part of the university, and it still is today. In the 1930s, it was used as a high school, a theater school, and an exhibition hall.
In 1944, President Ávila Camacho opened the church part as the National Periodical Archive. This was a place to keep old newspapers and magazines. It stayed that way until 1979. In 1996, the Museum of Light opened a gallery in the building.
The Building Itself
The Church Section
The front of the church building mixes two styles: Spanish Baroque and Neoclassical. It has a main entrance with two pairs of columns on each side. These columns go up to frame a window. This window has a stained glass design of the UNAM university's coat-of-arms. Above the window is a triangle-shaped top with a statue of Athena. The very top has a large curved shape with a small crest of Spain's coat-of-arms. The bell tower is on the side, behind the main front.
Inside, the church is shaped like a cross. It has thick walls that stick out, which created spaces for different chapels. These walls go up to support a special kind of ceiling. These inside arches are painted with plants and animals in a simple style. Artists like Roberto Montenegro and Gabriel Fernández Ledesma created these paintings.
The church also has three beautiful stained glass windows. Two of them were designed by Roberto Montenegro. One is called The Parakeet Seller, and the other is The Jarabe Dance of Guadalajara. The stained glass window with the university's seal on the front was designed by Jorge Enciso. Eduardo Villaseñor made all these designs into glass.
The School Section
The school buildings, apart from a front section with the seal of the old Royal and Pontifical University of Mexico, are quite plain. This part of the building originally had four courtyards. However, two were removed to make way for Republica de Venezuela Street. In one of the remaining courtyards, there is a tall, thin monument called an obelisk. It lists the three different schools that have been in this place. Today, this part of the building is used for various purposes, including being home to Secondary School #6.
Art and Decorations
The original decorations from the Spanish colonial time are no longer there. However, many murals and painted walls from the 1920s still remain. These were part of a famous project by the Mexican government to add art to public buildings. José Vasconcelos ordered these artworks. The paintings of plants and animals on the walls and arches, several murals, and Montenegro's stained glass windows are all from that time and are still preserved.
Inside Murals
In the main altar area of the church, Roberto Montenegro painted a mural called The Tree of Life. It is also known as the Tree of Science. This was the very first modern mural painted in Mexico. It was cleaned up in 2010 when the building was getting ready for the new Museum of the Constitutions.
Xavier Guerrero decorated the dome above the altar in the 1920s. His paintings were inspired by the zodiac signs.
Cloister Murals
The walls of the covered walkways (called a cloister) used to have paintings by Dr. Atl and Robert Montenegro. Sadly, these artworks are now lost. One important painting was The Festival of the Cross, which was in the stairwell. In another stairway, Roberto Montenegro painted a fresco in 1923 called The Festival of the Holy Cross. It is said to look similar to the style of another famous muralist, Diego Rivera. Later in the 1920s, an artwork about the Mexican Revolution was started by Gabriel Fernández Ledesma, but it was never finished.
Museums Inside
Museum of Light
The Museum of Light is part of UNAM, Mexico's National Autonomous University. It had exhibition space in San Pedro y San Pablo College from 1996 to 2010. This museum teaches about light and shows art made with light.
The San Pedro y San Pablo College building closed in 2010 to become the Museum of the Constitutions. The Museum of Light moved out. It is now located in another old building called San Ildefonso College, also in Mexico City's historic center.
Museum of the Constitutions of Mexico
The Museum of the Constitutions of Mexico (Museo de las Constituciones) is also part of UNAM. It opened in 1911 in the former altar area of San Pedro y San Pablo. This museum teaches about the different constitutions, or main laws, that Mexico has had throughout its history.
More to Explore
In Spanish: Templo y Colegio Máximo de San Pedro y San Pablo para niños
- List of Jesuit sites
