Palimpsestos constructivos. La impronta del pasado prehispánico en la modernización mexicana

Abstract

This article explores the symbolic role of the Pre-Columbian past in modern Mexican architecture. During the 1950s and 60, Mexican architects such as Carlos Lazo, Mario Pani, and Pedro Ramírez Vázquez integrated Pre-Columbian figures to buildings in order to reinforce national values for the bureaucracy. For them as well for the intellectual elites, the ancient past was the quintessential way to demonstrate the powerful roots of Mexican culture. These architects used representations of antiquity to strengthen not only the official discourse about a country with a legendary past, but also to position themselves into the bureaucratic structures. In my analysis, I consider how these architects sought to position themselves within the politics of the time. I seek to complicate the idea of modern architecture as a development of structures and spaces that discusses the political intentions of their creators. What differentiated these architects from the rest was their political vision and the effective use of the nationalist rhetoric. The pre-Columbian past was thus a tool to legitimize the state and the individual persona of some architects.

Keywords

• Modernization
• Monumentality
• Prehispanic
• State
• Space