Frida Kahlo, Diego Rivera and More: Visiting Mexico City’s House Museums
There are more than 50 museums in Mexico City’s House Museums, the latest incarnation in the Museums of the Nation, and the city is preparing to expand the collections to more than 100 by 2020, according to the Mexican government’s Museums of the Nation program, which is currently exploring the city’s public spaces with an “open-door policy.”
The Mexican government is moving forward with a new program, called Museums of the Nation, which seeks to increase access to museums and the cultural experiences within them. It allows the Mexican government to take advantage of the country’s rich history and culture to attract international visitors and provide them with cultural experience. The Museums Program has also received significant support from the Mexican government. Earlier this year, President Enrique Peña Nieto announced that the program received $60 million in investments for the first two years of the plan, and will receive $30 million through the end of 2016.
Since the first program began in 2000, the number of visits to Museums of the Nation-funded museums has grown significantly, from just under 1,000 visits in 2009 to 5,000 visits in 2015, according to the program’s records. These programs have also attracted national and international attention. In 2013, the Mexican Senate and the Chamber of Deputies published “The Museums of the Nation,” a report that included a list of 16 museums around the nation that are open to the public.
The House Museums are still limited to their initial collection of more than 100, but the growth is encouraging, especially with the expansion of the programs to more than 30 locations across the country. The programs have been met with varying reactions by the public and the museum community, but the programs have been welcomed by some and criticized by others.
“I think a lot of people are surprised that we live in a capital city in the middle of now what appears to be the center of economic activity, in the heart of the metropolis,” says Jorge Barajas, director of the Museum of Anthropology in Cuernavaca. “I’m not surprised at all. We’re living in the heart of the nation.”
The government of Mexico, which has faced criticism of its slow response to the violence