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A Multidisciplinary Approach For The Study of The Deterioration of The Juan O'Gorman'S Mosaic Murals Covering The Central Library Building of The Universidad Nacional Autonoma De Mexico (Unam), In Mexico City

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  26 February 2011

Mercedes Gomez-Urquiza De La Macorra ,
Luis Torres Montes ,
Manuel Reyes Garcia ,
Joseluis Galvan Madrid ,
Joan Genesca Llongueras  and
Tezozomoc Perez
Mercedes Gomez-Urquiza De La Macorra
Affiliation:
Torres, Instituto de Investigaciones Antropológicas, UNA+
Luis Torres Montes
Affiliation:
Reyes, Centro de Ciencias de la Atmósfera, UNAM
Manuel Reyes Garcia
Affiliation:
Gómez-Urquiza, Escuela Nacional Conservaci6n, Restauración y Museografia, INAH
Joseluis Galvan Madrid
Affiliation:
Galvón Madrid, Programa Universitario de Medio Ambiente; UNAM
Joan Genesca Llongueras
Affiliation:
Genesca Facultad de Quimica, UNAM
Tezozomoc Perez
Affiliation:
Pérez, Facultad de Quimica, UNAM
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Abstract

The Central Library murals were finished in 1952. They cover the outside of the building, totalling a surface of over four thousand square meters. Their design conveys the historyof Mexican culture through visual symbols. They were constructed by assembling one meter square, metal framed panels with cement mortar in which naturally colored stones gathered throughout Mexico, were inlaid, as well as fragments of man-made blue glass.

Environmental agents have severely damaged the stones, especially the green ones; the iron and steel support elements show exfoliative corrosion; as some panels have warped, the stones have been projected out of their seats, many of them falling down.

Research and data collection are under way. They will eventually produce an accurate diagnosis which will enable the technical committee to establish the basis for the conservation project.

Efforts to preserve this masterpiece are fully justified, be it from the point of view ofits artistic value, its importance within the framework of plastic art applied to architecture or for its worldwide renown.

Type
Research Article
Information
MRS Online Proceedings Library (OPL) , Volume 352: Symposium – Materials Issues in Art and Archaeology IV , 1995 , 51
Copyright
Copyright © Materials Research Society 1995

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References

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