page_title: San Ildefonso College
section_title: San Ildefonso Street facade
hierarchical_section_title: San Ildefonso College / Description / San Ildefonso Street facade
caption_attribution_description: English: Antiguo Colegio de San Ildefonso (Old College of San Ildefonso) located on Justo Sierra 16 in the Centro of Mexico City
context_page_description: San Ildefonso College 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, and after the Reform War it gained educational prestige again as National Preparatory School. This school and the building closed completely in 1978, 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.
  The college was founded 1588 and it is composed of six sections, that are five colonial baroque: the Colegio Grande, Colegio Chico, the chapel, El Generalito and the courtyard of los Pasantes, all completed in 1749; and one modern neo-baroque: the Amphitheater Bolívar completed in 1911.
context_section_description: Although it no longer provides access inside the complex, the large facade that runs along almost the entire length of San Ildefonso Street is the original, with a wide pedestrian zone between it and the street.  The facade is a long wall which is covered in tezontle, a blood-red porous volcanic stone, with windows and doors arranged unevenly and pilasters dividing the façade horizontally. These windows and doors are framed with jambs and lintels in cantera, a grayish-white stone. Vertical pilasters made of chiluca, another kind of white stone, divide the facade, which has two levels with the lower one being larger. Most of the facade belongs to the Colegio Grande, or the original section of the College.
  There are two extremely large portals done in cantera with supporting relieves done in "tecali", a very white, almost transparent marble. On the far left of the pedestrian zone is the stone portal of the Colegio Chico. This is the oldest intact section of facade, and it is adorned with estipite (inverted truncated pyramid) pilasters. Either they or the estipite designs on the Kings Altar of the Cathedral are the first use of this design in New Spain. This portal has a relief named La imposición de la casulla a san Ildefonsus ("Putting on the chasuble on Saint Ildephonsus of Toledo")  and opens to a hall that leads to the largest patio.
  The portal leading to the Colegio Chico has a relief called El patrocinio de san Jose los Jesuitas (Saint Joseph as patron of the Jesuits) as well as one called Virgen del Rosario (Our Lady of the Rosary) both done in tecali. This portal opens to a hall that leads to a smaller patio.
caption: San Ildefonso Street, colonial facade
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