Temple or museum? How Diego Rivera designed a place to honor Mexico's pre-Hispanic art

MEXICO CITY (AP) — In the 1940s, Mexican artist Diego Rivera had a dream: to build a sacred place to preserve and display his lifelong collection of pre-Hispanic art.

The Anahuacalli Museum in Mexico City, which celebrates its 60th anniversary this month, is everything he hoped for.

Inch by inch, its pyramid structure honors the Mexica worldview. Among its 60,000 archeological pieces, dozens represent ancient deities. And though foreigners visit on a regular basis, its workshops and year-round activities aim to connect the local communities to their historic roots.

“This is Diego Rivera’s dream come true: a space in which art, nature and the public coexist,” said María Teresa Moya, director of the Anahuacalli.

The Mexican muralist was aligned with a Communist ideology. He and his wife — renowned artist Frida Kahlo — openly criticized the Catholic Church. But their fascination with Mexico’s pre-Hispanic spirituality is palpable through their work.

In Rivera’s case, he bought and collected archeological pieces, depicted them on his murals and designed the Anahuacalli for their exhibition.

“Diego had a great respect, affection and admiration for our ancestors,” Moya said. “Everything he designed or created was inspired by our origins.”

Mexico’s pre-Hispanic worldview was so important to him that it even influenced the Anahuacalli’s architecture. While its main floor represents the underworld — and feels dimly lit and cold — the second and third levels were inspired by the earthly and celestial worlds, which makes them seem warmer and flooded by light.

Though Mexica heritage is dominant in the museum’s design, visitors can also appreciate other Mesoamerican influences, said Aldo Lugo, a researcher who points out the Mayan, Toltec and Teotihuacan elements through guided tours of the museum.

The three-story pyramid was inaugurated in September 1964, seven years after Rivera died. Its name, Anahuacalli, translates from the Nahuatl language as “house surrounded by water.”

According to a recent government publication, the Anahuacalli is distinctive among Mexican museums in being situated in an ecological reserve of about six acres (2.6 hectares) protecting nearby flora and fauna. The museum itself was built with volcanic rock to fuse with its natural surroundings.

Rivera and Kahlo first thought of the place as an oasis where they could move away from the buzz of the city. Later, even as their plans changed and Rivera decided to build the museum, the couple desired to be buried in the Anahuacalli’s underworld.

The adjoining niches of the main floor are currently empty. Kahlo’s remains are located in her “Blue House” and Rivera was buried in the Rotunda of Illustrious Persons, a national cemetery site that honors those who made major contributions to Mexico's history and culture. “But we keep the niches, just in case they end up here,” Lugo said.

During a one-hour visit through the Anahuacalli, its various rooms and cabinets can be read as a book.

From the start, Coatlicue, mother of the gods, greets all visitors from the ceiling. Her myth was special for the pre-Hispanic understanding of the world: a battle between her son and daughter — the sun and the moon — explained the origins of day and night.

The Anahuacalli’s main floor is focused on rituals and burials. The first level displays archeological pieces depicting everyday life, while the second level — representing the celestial world — is devoted to the gods.

The museum’s walls and stairs bear meanings too. Each of the Anahuacalli's four corners depict a natural element — earth, wind, water and fire — and their respective pre-Hispanic deities. The stairs represent the transition between the stages of one’s existence.

“The Anahuacalli is a temple,” Moya said. “And one of a kind.”

To celebrate its 60th anniversary, the museum planned various activities reflecting on Mexico’s artistic and cultural landscape.

Aside from a gastronomic festival in June and monthly lectures on Rivera’s legacy — which the public can attend through December — neighbors who knew the artist are working on a video to preserve the oral collective memory of the museum and the neighborhood where it’s located.

“We want the community to keep feeling that this space belongs to them,” Moya said.

Contemporary artists are often invited to host exhibitions at Anahuacalli. “Atomic amnesia,” by Mexican sculptor Pedro Reyes, will be on exhibit from Sept. 13 through January 2025.

His 20 works on display, a press release said, were inspired by one of Rivera’s murals, which was highly controversial and mysteriously disappeared, though its sketch is preserved: “The Nightmare of War, The Dream of Peace. A Realist Fantasy (1952).”

Like Rivera, Reyes' art reflects society. His works are meant to express the current political landscape and, following in Rivera's footsteps, he regards his art as a platform to protest and raise awareness.

“Diego was quite controversial,” Moya said. “On the one hand, he had a huge interest in rescuing our pre-Hispanic heritage, but he also adhered to socialism in an unwavering way.”

“He wanted us to look at our past to understand our present and plant something for the future.”

Associated Press religion coverage receives support through the AP’s collaboration with The Conversation US, with funding from Lilly Endowment Inc. The AP is solely responsible for this content.

A visitor walks through the interior of the Anahuacalli Museum in Mexico City, Tuesday, Aug. 20, 2024. While its main floor represents the underworld — and feels dimly lit and cold — the second and third levels were inspired by the earthly and celestial worlds, which makes them seem warmer and flooded by light. (AP Photo/Eduardo Verdugo)

A visitor is silhouetted against an interior wall of the Anahuacalli Museum in Mexico City, Tuesday, Aug. 20, 2024. While its main floor represents the underworld — and feels dimly lit and cold — the second and third levels were inspired by the earthly and celestial worlds, which makes them seem warmer and flooded by light. (AP Photo/Eduardo Verdugo)

Visitors look out from the exterior of the Anahuacalli Museum in Mexico City, Tuesday, Aug. 20, 2024. Built by Mexican artist Diego Rivera, its name, Anahuacalli, translates from the Nahuatl language as "house surrounded by water." (AP Photo/Eduardo Verdugo)

Pre-hispanic ceramics are displayed in glass front niches in the Anahuacalli Museum in Mexico City, Tuesday, Aug. 20, 2024. Built by Mexican artist Diego Rivera to preserve and display his lifelong collection of pre-Hispanic art, the museum is celebrating its 60th anniversary. (AP Photo/Eduardo Verdugo)

FILE - Mexican muralist Diego Rivera and Frida Kahlo photographed on a balcony at their home in Mexico City, April 13, 1939. (AP Photo, File)

A visitor walks past pre-Hispanic ceramics displayed in glass front niches in the Anahuacalli Museum in Mexico City, Tuesday, Aug. 20, 2024. Built by Mexican artist Diego Rivera to preserve and display his lifelong collection of pre-Hispanic art, the museum is celebrating its 60th anniversary. (AP Photo/Eduardo Verdugo)

A visitor walks through the interior of the Anahuacalli Museum in Mexico City, Tuesday, Aug. 20, 2024. Built by Mexican artist Diego Rivera to preserve and display his lifelong collection of pre-Hispanic art, the museum is celebrating its 60th anniversary. (AP Photo/Eduardo Verdugo)

María Teresa Moya, director of the Anahuacalli Museum, poses for a photo on museum grounds in Mexico City, Tuesday, Aug. 20, 2024. Built by Mexican artist Diego Rivera to preserve and display his lifelong collection of pre-Hispanic art, the museum is celebrating its 60th anniversary. (AP Photo/Eduardo Verdugo)

A visitor takes a photo of a ceiling mosaic in the Anahuacalli Museum in Mexico City, Tuesday, Aug. 20, 2024. Built by Mexican artist Diego Rivera to preserve and display his lifelong collection of pre-Hispanic art, the museum is celebrating its 60th anniversary. (AP Photo/Eduardo Verdugo)

FILE - Mexican artist Diego Rivera poses for a photo in Mexico City, April 14, 1939. In the 1940s, Rivera built the Anahuacalli Museum to preserve and display his lifelong collection of pre-Hispanic art. (AP Photo, File)

Visitors exit the Anahuacalli Museum in Mexico City, Tuesday, Aug. 20, 2024. Built by Mexican artist Diego Rivera, its name, Anahuacalli, translates from the Nahuatl language as "house surrounded by water." (AP Photo/Eduardo Verdugo)

A visitor looks at pre-Hispanic ceramics on display at the Anahuacalli Museum in Mexico City, Tuesday, Aug. 20, 2024. Built by Mexican artist Diego Rivera to preserve and display his lifelong collection of pre-Hispanic art, the museum is celebrating its 60th anniversary. (AP Photo/Eduardo Verdugo)

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) — The Taliban have suspended polio vaccination campaigns in Afghanistan, the U.N. said Monday. It’s a devastating setback for polio eradication, since the virus is one of the world’s most infectious and any unvaccinated groups of children where the virus is spreading could undo years of progress.

Afghanistan is one of two countries in which the spread of the potentially fatal, paralyzing disease has never been stopped. The other is Pakistan. It’s likely that the Taliban’s decision will have major repercussions for other countries in the region and beyond.

News of the suspension was relayed to U.N. agencies right before the September immunization campaign was due to start. No reason was given for the suspension, and no one from the Taliban-controlled government was immediately available for comment.

A top official from the World Health Organization said it was aware of discussions to move away from house-to-house vaccinations and instead have immunizations in places like mosques.

The WHO has confirmed 18 polio cases in Afghanistan this year, all but two in the south of the country. That’s up from six cases in 2023.

“The Global Polio Eradication Initiative is aware of the recent policy discussions on shifting from house-to-house polio vaccination campaigns to site-to-site vaccination in parts of Afghanistan,” said Dr. Hamid Jafari from the WHO. “Partners are in the process of discussing and understanding the scope and impact of any change in current policy.”

Polio campaigns in neighboring Pakistan are regularly marred by violence. Militants target vaccination teams and police assigned to protect them, falsely claiming that the campaigns are a Western conspiracy to sterilize children.

As recently as August, the WHO reported that Afghanistan and Pakistan were continuing to implement an “intensive and synchronized campaign” focusing on improved vaccination coverage in endemic zones and an effective and timely response to detections elsewhere.

During a June 2024 nationwide campaign, Afghanistan used a house-to-house vaccination strategy for the first time in five years, a tactic that helped to reach the majority of children targeted, the WHO said.

But southern Kandahar province, the base of Taliban supreme leader Hibatullah Akhundzada, used site-to-site or mosque-to-mosque vaccination campaigns, which are less effective than going to people’s homes.

Kandahar continues to have a large pool of susceptible children because it is not carrying out house-to-house vaccinations, the WHO said. “The overall women’s inclusion in vaccination campaigns remains around 20% in Afghanistan, leading to inadequate access to all children in some areas,” it said.

Any setback in Afghanistan poses a risk to the program in Pakistan due to high population movement, the WHO warned last month.

The campaign suspension is the latest obstacle in what has become a problematic global effort to stop polio. The initiative, which costs about $1 billion every year, has missed multiple deadlines to wipe out the disease and technical mistakes in the vaccination strategy set by WHO and partners have been costly.

The oral vaccine has also inadvertently seeded outbreaks in dozens of countries across Africa, Asia and the Middle East and now accounts for the majority of polio cases worldwide.

This was seen most recently in Gaza, where a baby was partially paralyzed by a mutated strain of polio first seen in the oral vaccine, marking the territory’s first case in more than 25 years.

Associated Press writer Maria Cheng in London contributed to this report.

FILE - Shabana Maani, gives a polio vaccination to a child in the old part of Kabul, Afghanistan, Monday, March 29, 2021. (AP Photo/Rahmat Gul, File)

FILE - Shabana Maani, gives a polio vaccination to a child in the old part of Kabul, Afghanistan, Monday, March 29, 2021. (AP Photo/Rahmat Gul, File)