Museo Nacional de Arquitectura (The National Museum of Architecture), Mexico: 30 Years of Preservation and Dissemination of Built Artistic Heritage

Abstract

For 30 years the Museo Nacional de Arquitectura (MNA, The National Museum of Architecture), Instituto Nacional de Bellas Artes (INBA, National Institute of Fine Arts, Mexico) has been carrying out its mission to rescue, document and disseminate Mexican as well as international architecture, including leading figures in the field. The museum brings professionals, students and the general public in contact with architectonical issues on national and international level through its library, photo library and map archive with more than 6 000 original plans –highlight of the collection is the original graphical material of Palacio de Bellas Artes (PBA, Fine Arts Palace), INBA–, and furthermore a programme of temporary exhibitions at the venue as well as travelling expositions, publications, conferences, round tables and book presentations of famous personalities from the fields of architecture and cultural heritage. This overview sketches the history, the present situation and the challenges of MNA-INBA in carrying out their mission to raise society’s awareness about Mexico’s architectural wealth and, more recently, that of other parts of the world as well as disseminate and highlight this richness for present and future generations.