National Autonomous Univeristy of Mexico (UNAM)

We took a tour while in Mexico City one Saturday morning and part of the tour was stopping at the University of Mexico or "The National Autonomous University of Mexico (UNAM)".  This is a Mexican public university, the largest and very important to Mexico and one of the top 50 universities and 10 most popular in the world. It was founded on 21 September 1551.  The UNAM has the primary purpose to serve the country, humanity, train professionals useful to society, organize and conduct research, mainly on national problems and conditions, and extend, to the extent possible, the benefits of culture.

So here are some photos of the campus that were very interesting. 

 

Above is the scenery as we approached the University.  I asked the guide how

 many students attend here, and I was told 300,000 currently.

 

This is the main administration offices of the University.

 

The original city of Mexico City was founded by the Aztecs. They found an island with an Eagle sitting on a Cactus with a snake in his mouth. So they stopped and built their city right there! They took and planted trees on the boarder of the island and then filled in with dirt. They kept doing this until they had filled in the entire huge lake with islands and connecting canals. 

 

The photo above is the Mall on the main campus. If you look, the green represents all the islands and the sidewalks are the interconnecting canals of water! Very cleverly intertwining history into the modern day!

If you remember back to the 1968, the Summer Olympics were held in Mexico City. Well, the opening ceremonies (and track & field) were held in this Stadium on the University of Mexico campus!  The black circle you see on top is where the Caldron was.  The mosaic design on the front depicts the Eagle with the snake in his mouth in the center, two olympians lighting the cauldron on each side.  There is an Eagle Head (right side) and Condor Head (left side). The Eagle represents the Aztec people and people of Mexico, the Condor represents the Inca people who were of Peru and Bolivia.

 The photo above is Sandi standing in front of the Library. The design behind her is of Quatzequatel:  The Winged God, done in mosiac.  Every side of the Library, from the bottom to the top of the roof is done in mosiac.

Here is one side of the Library done in mosaic. Some show the Aztecs and other parts show the Spanish envadors forcing their religion on them.

 

Here is a photo of our little tour group: 4 people on the left were from Brazil, and us.

We are standing in front of the Library.

 

It was a lovely place. As we were walking from place to place I could see small groups gathered. I asked the guide what was happening. One group she said was a Brazilian dance class. I kept hoping they would practice moves or something, but they didn't.