“Since the arrival of the first Jesuits in the kingdom of New Spain in 1572, the Society of Jesus has been a transforming force in Mexico,” said the rector of the Iberoamerican University Mexico CityLuis Arriaga Valenzuela, during the inauguration of the exhibition “Buildings of the Society of Jesus in Mexico” which, on the occasion of the 80th anniversary of this institution, will be exhibited starting this Monday at the Open Gallery of the Bars of Chapultepec Forest , in collaboration with the Ministry of Culture of Mexico City.
The exhibition is made up of images of temples, houses, schools and missions of the Society of Jesus, in dialogue with Jesuit publications, figurations and cartographies from the collection of the Francisco Xavier Clavigero Library, of the IBERO, and funds such as the Manuel Library Collection Arango, and will be available until May 28.
These artistic and historical materials, added Dr. Arriaga Valenzuela, “are the symbolic expression of a complex spirituality. A spirituality that assumes a constant tension between science and faith; between innovating and consolidating what has already been done; between meditating on the conditions of the present and acting on them to build the future”.
He highlighted the figure of Clavigero as a forger of our cultural identity, whose maps of our country “draw attention because they are more a practice of imagination than precision work.” The 18th century Jesuits, he said, discovered that it is important to come up with creative solutions to the challenges that confront us.
As a university entrusted to the Society of Jesus, he pointed out that the IBERIAN it is part of a century-old company with civilizing scope that began more than five hundred years ago, and called for a return to the origins of that project “to renew the clarity of meaning of what we do.”
The Jesuits, servicemen and frontiersmen
For his part, Dr. Luis Gerardo Moro Madrid, Provincial of the Society of Jesus in Mexico, stressed that “the buildings that we Jesuits make are never only to be observed or valued; they always seek to serve others.” Dating back to the first Jesuits to arrive in Mexico 450 years ago, he described a group of adventurous men, educated, prepared and eager to bring the good news to lands unknown to them. They were, he said, as they are now, men willing to give everything, even their lives, to fulfill the entrusted mission.
These missionaries fell in love with what is now Mexico; Since then, the Jesuits who traveled through these lands have sought to know them, understand them, love them and go where others did not want to go, to the borders and beyond, entering inhospitable lands to found towns, build, educate, evangelize and defend the dignity of people and societies. “Many of them left material testimonies of their work in our country.”
On behalf of the Head of Government of Mexico City, Claudia Sheinbaum, the director of Open Galleries of the CDMX Ministry of Culture, José Manuel Rodríguez Ramírez, attended this inauguration. He indicated that this is a plural space “which we have always seen as a great window to promote culture and strengthen community ties and identity.”
“It is culture that makes us specifically human, rational, critical, and ethically committed beings,” he added. “For our heritage, he said, the fact of having this exhibition is a great honor, since since 1572 the Society of Jesus has been an important promoter of the building of great institutions.”
The coordination of this exhibition was carried out by Manuela Martín Rangel; and curated by Dr. Mayela Flores Enríquez.
Gallery of the inaugural event:
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