Centro Cultural Mexiquense 4

Centro Cultural Mexiquense is a cultural center located on the western edge of the city of Toluca in central Mexico. The center is run by the State of Mexico government through an agency called the Instituto Mexiquense de Cultura (IMC), the largest and most important of this agency, receiving about 80,000 visitors a year. It contains the Museum of Anthropology and History, the Modern Art Museum and the Museum of Popular Cultures as well as a Central Public Library and the Historical Archives of the State of Mexico, as well as facilities for research.The complexThe complex is located on part of the former San José de la Pila Hacienda, which was originally part of a Franciscan monastery called Nuestra Señora de la Asunción. This hacienda was one of the largest in the Valley of Toluca with large pasture for cattle and a fresh water spring which only recently has been open to the public. The hacienda came into the hands of the state in 1976. Part of the land, 177,989 hectares, was dedicated to the cultural center. The main architect of the project was Pedro Ramírez Vázquez, who designed the museums. The center was inaugurated in 1987 the three major museums and a collection of art and cultural objects donated by regional centers, museums, libraries, arts festival and individual families. Much of the grounds remain open and contain some of the original hacienda buildings along with about seventy sculptures of iron, bronze and wood.The center hosts a number of temporary exhibits in its museums as well as cultural events on its grounds. The center sponsors an annual event called the FestinARTE, with a purpose of getting children to appreciate the arts, with workshops and performances in painting, music, ceramics, and theater for children. The Tianguis de Arte is held annually at the center. It sells art by state artists as well as books. In 2005, the center held an event inviting about 400 graffiti artists to create mural son fifty meters of screens located in the parking lot.