Mexico City Part 6: Coyoacán

Coyoacán

San Juan Bautista Church

Coyoacán is a bohemian neighborhood in Mexico City known for its cobblestone streets and beautiful architecture.

Jardin Centenario

The city is built around Jardin Centenario, a park located at its center.

La Fuente de Los Coyotes

The park features a fountain, in the middle of which are two bronze coyotes. The name of the fountain translates to "The Fount of Coyotes," alluding to the Nahuatl word "Coyoacán," which means “place of coyotes.”

Parroquia San Juan Bautista

In Coyoacán, you will also find this Baroque-style, Catholic church and former monastery. Dating back to the 16th-century, it one of the oldest churches in Mexico City and a national monument.  The wide-barrel, vault ceiling is covered with detailed paintings of biblical scenes.

Frida Kahlo Museum

Frida Kahlo Museum

Many would say that the main attraction in Coyoacán however, is the Frida Kahlo museum, located inside her former home, Casa Azul.

Frida resided in this home for 36 of her 47 years of life. In fact, this is the home that Frida lived in with her parents and sisters during her childhood, starting from her birth in 1907.

It was in this house that Frida was first introduced to art by her father. Fascinated by watching him paint, she began borrowing his materials to paint boxes with still landscapes.

Due to economic problems stemming from the Mexican Revolution, the home was later mortgaged. (More to come shortly on how the debt was eventually paid.) In addition to this financial challenge, Frida encountered other difficulties, the greatest of which impacted her health.

At 18 years old, Frida Kahlo was tragically injured while riding on a bus that collided with a tram. During the accident, Frida was impaled with a metal rod that punctured her pelvis. The violent accident left Frida with a broken spine, collarbone, leg and a dislocated shoulder. Knowing that these injuries would prevent her from achieving her dream of becoming a doctor, due to ongoing pain and bouts of immobility, Frida took up painting in earnest.

Frida's recovery was long, painful and arduous. In order to paint, she got a specially made lap easel ...

Day Time Bedroom

... and installed a mirror over her bed in one of her bedrooms, so she could see what she was painting.

Using this overhead bed mirror, Frida also painted a series of self portraits, one of which is pictured above.

In addition to traditional canvases, Frida would sometimes use her body casts to paint upon.

At 22 years old, Frida reconnected with the famous painter and muralist, Diego Rivera, whom she had initially met when she was 15. When they reunited in 1928, Diego was 41. Despite the 20 year age difference, they married one year later in 1929.

After marrying Frida, Diego Rivera paid the debt on Frida's childhood home and put the property in her name. It was at that time that they decided to paint the house this rich, cobalt blue. Thereafter, it came to be known as Casa Azul.

The paintings and artifacts at the museum were impressive, but what made my visit even more interesting was being able to walk through the spaces where Frida, and later Diego, spent their lives. Take for example their kitchen, where there's even a recipe for Frida's homemade mole on the wall.

You can also walk through common areas including a study where Diego worked.

Night Time Bedroom

Due to the bus accident, Frida suffered with lifelong pain that kept her bedridden for long periods of time. For this reason, the home has a daytime bedroom where Frida could lie down and paint (as mentioned above), as well as this night time bedroom decorated with overhead butterflies that were a gift from Isamu Noguchi (who was rumored to have had an affair with Frida).

Regarding her ongoing physical challenges, in one poem Frida wrote:

"To wait with hidden anguish

my spine broken and my gaze broad

Unable to walk on the great pathway

Moving through life

fenced in by steel."

Frida's Studio

Even when the pain would dissipate, she would often use a wheelchair to help her get around, as walking proved difficult much of the time. Frida's wheelchair, paints, an easel gifted to her by Rockefeller and the mirror she used to paint self portraits are preserved in the studio pictured above. They are in the same state in which she left them.

Even Frida's fashion was influenced by her physical pain.

The corsets she was so famously known for wearing, were created to hold her spine in place and alleviate pain inducing pressure.

If you are in Coyoacán, I recommend a stop at the Frida Kahlo museum. My visit gave me a new appreciation for Frida as a person, as well as an artist.

After the museum, we stopped for a snack at Churros Jordan where they have been making churros from scratch for almost 40 years.

The churros were excellent. They were almost as good as the ones I had in Spain at Chocolatería San Ginés. I said almost.

Next, we traveled to the National Autonomous University of Mexico, or UNAM, to see various murals.

The campus has been designated a UNESCO World Heritage Site and is a glowing example of 20th-century modernist architecture.

“La Universidad, La Familia y El Deporte en México” Mural

At the UNAM Olympic Stadium, you'll find this mural by Diego Rivera. Unfortunately, Rivera died before completing it.

The most impressive mural is found on UNAM's central library. This mural by Juan O’Gorman, is made entirely of stones. That's correct. All of the vibrant colors you see are not painted, but rather a mosaic comprised of various, colored stones.

The mural on the narrow wall is dedicated to the university itself with the words “Universidad Nacional D Mexico” just above the seal. The larger wall features a mural entitled “The Colonial Past” and depicts the dualities of heaven and hell.

UNAM was our final stop in Coyoacán. I definitely recommend visiting this area of CDMX where you can easily spend a day exploring the sites. Since I've just about covered my land activities in CDMX, in my next post, I'll share about my Mexico City water and air adventures in Xochimilco and Teotihuacan.