House of Mexico in Madrid
Introduction
Fundación Casa de México en España is a Mexican cultural center based in the Chamberí neighborhood (Madrid, Spain) that aims to promote knowledge of Mexican society and culture in Spain. It was inaugurated on October 1, 2018 in an event chaired by the Secretary of Foreign Affairs "Secretaría de Economía Exterior (Mexico)") of the Mexican federal government Luis Videgaray Caso, the ambassador of Mexico to Spain Roberta Lajous Vargas, the minister of Foreign Affairs of the government of Spain Josep Borrell and the mayor of Madrid Manuela Carmena.[1].
Background and inauguration
In 1990, Mexico and Spain signed a General Treaty of Cooperation and Friendship by which they committed to opening cooperation centers or institutes in their respective capitals. In accordance with the provisions of said treaty, in 2002 the Cultural Center of Spain in Mexico was inaugurated in Mexico City. Fifteen years later, the corresponding Cultural Center of Mexico in Spain was opened in the city of Madrid. In both cases, the governments of the capitals loaned properties they owned as headquarters to install the respective cultural centers. Coinciding with the inauguration of the Madrid center, the exhibitions Three centuries of painting in Mexico were held. Private collections and Great Masters of Mexican Popular Art. Fomento Cultural Banamex Collection, A.C.[3].
Site
Fundación Casa de México in Spain is located in a historic building of the Madrid City Council[4] built by the architect Luis Bellido in the 1920s as the new headquarters of the Institute of Military Hygiene on the site where said health facility had been since 1885.[5] The mansion, with four floors and an area of 2,700 square meters, housed various municipal services throughout its nearly one hundred years of history, such as a first-aid house, the Mayor's Office of the University district "Universidad (Madrid)"), a headquarters of the National Employment Institute and a headquarters of the Sámur. The Casa de México Foundation in Spain took charge of the remodeling, administration and management of the building for its new use for a period of 10 years, renewable. The building is part of the Mexican Embassy to Spain.[2].