The cities of our country keep in their architecture marks of their evolution, echoes of history submerged in urban chaos.
During the 19th century, two great photographers, Guillermo Kahlo and Henry Greenwood, set out to collect the architectural greatness of Mexico; from its results arises the exhibition Dos Miradas a la Arquitectura Monumental.
The historical contexts of the two photographers were very different. In the United States, where Greenwood was from, there was a great interest in what was Hispanic.
The enthusiasm for New Spain led to the publication of Spanish-Colonial Architecture in Mexico, a book by reporter Sylvester Baxter with photographs by Henry Greenwood that greatly influenced Californian architecture of the time.
On the other hand, in Mexico cosmopolitanism and Europeanization predominated.
The monuments in which the Americans showed so much interest were seen as vestiges of a world that would disappear to give way to a more modern country full of French-style and Venetian-style palaces.
By chance of fate, Baxter's work reaches the hands of Porfirio Díaz, who, astonished, entrusts Guillermo Kahlo with the creation of a photographic inventory of the country's architectural heritage.
Monuments such as the Metropolitan Cathedral, the Casa de los Azulejos, the Palacio de Bellas Artes and the San Ildefonso site, taken at different times by both photographers, can be enjoyed in this exhibition.
