page_title: San Ildefonso College
section_title: Amphitheater Bolívar
hierarchical_section_title: San Ildefonso College / Description / Amphitheater Bolívar
caption_attribution_description: English: Portal to the left of the main portal of the Bolivar Amphitheater of San Ildefonso College in the historic center 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: The portals of the San Idefonso Street side of the complex are no longer open for public access. The entrance to the complex is now on Justo Sierra Street through the Simón Bolívar Amphitheater. In 1906, due to the growth of the Preparatory School, a new building was ordered for the land against and behind the Colegio Grande. The amphitheatre was built by architect Samuel Chavez between 1906 and 1911. Another building that served as the dean's offices was finished in 1931 and designed by architect Pablo Flores. Both the amphitheatre and the dean's offices were designed to copy the Baroque style of the rest of the complex but, according to critics, both contain a significant number of design errors.
  The lobby leading from the Just Sierra entrance has a double arcade decorated with elaborate Neo-Churrigueresque details. One the left is a fresco painted by Fernando Leal between 1931 and 1933. Named Epopeya bolivariana, it is a historical piece done in nine panels depicting the heroes that fought for independence in the various countries of the Americas.
  Inside the Bolívar Amphitheater itself, one of Diego Rivera's early murals The Creation is exhibited. Despite the mixture of styles and concepts, this mural contains some of the features that would become Rivera trademarks: generous curves in the human form, Mexican nationalist elements, geometric structure of the composition, and groupings of famous persons. Other paintings here include works by Emilio Garcia Cahera, Ernesto García Cabral, and Angel Bolivar.
caption: Main portal of the Bolívar Amphitheater, neo-baroque
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