Biblioteca Vasconcelos

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Logo of the Biblioteca Vasconcelos
Main entrance to the library
Glance into the main reading room
Reading on the occasion of Children's Day, in the background the bookshelves of the reading room

The Biblioteca Vasconcelos is a library in the Delegación Cuauhtémoc of the Mexican capital Mexico City . It is located parallel to the Buenavista train station on the corner of Calle Mosqueta / Calle Saturno . The library, which opened in 2006, is one of the largest of its kind in Mexico; it is named after the Mexican politician, writer and philosopher José Vasconcelos .

history

Construction and opening

The idea and plan for the construction of the large library goes back to Sari Bermúdez, chairwoman of the National Council for Art and Culture ( Conaculta ) in the early 2000s. The architects Alberto Kalach , Juan Palomar Verea , Gustavo Lipkau and Tonatiuh Martínez were responsible for the design of the library, which covers an area of ​​38,000 square meters . Due to escalating costs, the Mexican Congress proposed cutting and capping construction costs in 2005, which the then ruling Partido Acción Nacional rejected.

The building was opened on May 16, 2006 by the then President Vicente Fox , who called it "one of the most progressive libraries of the 21st century". Since the opening took place a week before the start of the election campaign for the 2006 presidential elections and the library was not yet fully functional, both the opposition Partido de la Revolución Democrática (PRD) and the press criticized the building as a campaign gift from Foxen. The cost was 954 million Mexican pesos, then about 67 million euros.

Construction defects

Due to the hasty opening of the library, it had to close in March 2007 due to water damage. The “Auditoría Superior de la Federación” found 36 construction defects and initiated 13 investigations against officials of the national government. Vicente Foxen's successor government under Felipe Calderón was forced to invest a further 32 million Mexican pesos (about 2.1 million euros) to renovate and complete the building.

building

construction

The building complex designed by Alberto Kalach , Juan Palomar Verea , Gustavo Lipkau and Tonatiuh Martínez covers an area of ​​37,692 square meters, of which 26,000 belong to the surrounding botanical garden. The complex itself is divided into three individual buildings, each with six floors. The modern architectural style of Kalach, consisting of large, transparent glass surfaces, is striking. Due to the large space between and the hanging structure of the book shelves, it appears as if the book shelves are “floating”.

Library organization and facilities

The library currently has more than 575,000 books sorted and cataloged using the Dewey system .

In addition to the library itself, there are multimedia rooms (with more than 600 internet-enabled computers), a children's library, a room with Braille works, a music hall and an auditorium.

Web links

Commons : Biblioteca Vasconcelos  - collection of images

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Alberto Torres: Inaugura Fox megabiblioteca "José Vasconcelos". In: El Universal. May 16, 2006, accessed August 15, 2014 (Spanish).
  2. ^ Tania Pérez: La Biblioteca Vasconcelos ya abrió sus puertas. In: Universia. May 18, 2006, Retrieved August 15, 2014 (Spanish).
  3. ^ En orden los recursos de Biblioteca Vasconcelos: CAPFCE. In: El Universal. April 4, 2006, Retrieved August 15, 2014 (Spanish).
  4. ↑ Roberto Garduño and Enrique Mendez: La ASF pide fincar responsabilidad a funcionarios de Vicente Fox. In: La Jornada. March 30, 2007, Retrieved August 15, 2014 (Spanish).
  5. ↑ Miguel Angel Ceballos: 32 mdp más a la 'megabiblioteca'. In: El Universal. May 31, 2007, accessed August 15, 2014 (Spanish).

Coordinates: 19 ° 26 ′ 47.9 ″  N , 99 ° 9 ′ 3.1 ″  W.