Diego Rivera Sculpture On Mexico City's Olympic Stadium To Be Restored

(MENAFN- USA Art News) A monumental stone relief by Diego Rivera from the early 1950s, located on the exterior of Mexico City's Estadio Olímpico Universitario at the Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México (Unam), is slated for restoration. This undertaking marks the launch of a multiyear collaboration between the World Monuments Fund (WMF) and Unam, focused on preserving significant murals throughout the university's central campus.

This extensive preservation effort will encompass David Alfaro Siqueiros's three-dimensional mural on the rectory's tower and Juan O'Gorman's stone mosaic mural at the university's main library. Support for Rivera's restoration comes from the US embassy in Mexico City through the US Department of State's Ambassadors Fund for Cultural Preservation Freedom 250 initiative. Local experts will perform the restoration work.

The Olympic stadium, completed in 1952 and built into a volcanic hollow using local stone, is a notable architectural and sports landmark at the core of Unam's campus. In 2007, the campus was designated a Unesco World Heritage site. According to Mónica Cejudo Collera, Unam's director of architecture, the concept of“plastic integration” is central to Unam's uniqueness. She told The Art Newspaper,“It is not simply about placing art within an architectural complex, but a conception in which architecture, art and space are integrated.”

This project also signifies a shift in Muralism, as Renato González Mello, a Muralism expert at Unam's Institute of Aesthetic Research, explained. He stated,“At this time, mural art shifted from indoor to public spaces, conveying to passersby a utopian message of modernity and progress.”

Rivera's work, titled The University, the Family and Sport in Mexico ( 1952-54 ), is a“sculpture-painting” that chronicles Mexico's sports history from pre-Hispanic periods to the modern Olympics. Rivera innovated this technique with O'Gorman at Mexico City's Museo Anahuacalli, embedding volcanic stone, marble, and river stone into the stadium's sloping masonry. González Mello noted that the technique was an innovation applied differently by Rivera and O'Gorman, and further study is needed on the materials and methods used.

Rivera's work remains unfinished, due to his declining health and disagreements with Unam's architecture team. The stadium's eastern façade depicts a family beneath an eagle and condor, mirroring Unam's crest. Below these figures, the Mesoamerican deity Quetzalcoatl appears as a serpent, with two figures illuminating Olympic torches. Rivera's complete sketch for the project is on display at the Museo Dolores Olmedo in Xochimilco.

The WMF has completed over 60 projects at 32 sites across 17 Mexican states since the 8.1-magnitude earthquake struck Mexico City in 1985. Caterina Toscano, WMF's vice president of development and partnerships, said,“Our renewed focus is on the country's rich mural heritage, which is a thread throughout its history, from pre-Hispanic times to Muralism and beyond.” She added,“We recognize Unam's murals as a jewel of 20th-century Mexican architecture.”

Stephanie D. Ortiz, WMF's regional director for Latin America and the Caribbean, stated that WMF previously supported the restoration of murals at Teotihuacan's Temple of Quetzalcoatl and Rivera's murals at the ministry of education building in Mexico City. The current restoration of Rivera's Estadio Olímpico sculpture is planned in anticipation of 2028, which will mark the 60th anniversary of the Mexico City Olympics.

The murals exhibit various levels and types of deterioration caused by environmental exposure, including structural and surface damage. The restoration will be led by local experts under Mexico's Centro Nacional Conservación y Registro del Patrimonio Artístico Mueble. Toscano emphasized that Mexico possesses high-level restoration expertise that can be shared globally, and Ortiz confirmed that WMF will foster international exchange through public programs.

Comprehensive studies are scheduled to precede the physical conservation. González mentioned that a new research seminar led by Unam experts will promote the historic, scientific, and material study of each mural as a foundation for conservation efforts. He also noted that 2027 will mark the 20th anniversary of Unesco's inscription of the university campus.

Among the murals slated for restoration, the most delicate is Siqueiros's three-dimensional work, The People to the University, the University to the People: For a New Humanist Culture of Universal Depth ( 1952-56 ), which has been covered for years due to conservation concerns. O'Gorman's Historical Representation of Culture ( 1950-52 ), a 4,000 sq. m stone mosaic at the central library, would follow in the restoration queue.

Cejudo concluded,“A long-term restoration project goes beyond repairing or conserving the murals. It means preserving the memory, materials, techniques and meaning of a cultural and architectural project that remains relevant.”

Source: The Art Newspaper

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