Mérida, Yucatán — A part of the National Autonomous University of Mexico (UNAM) is leaving Santa Lucia and moving to García Ginerés.
Its new headquarters will be at the university-owned Casa Lol-Be, a historic mansion across from Parque de las Américas on Calle 22 and 19.
It’s a loss for the Centro, because UNAM’s cultural center hosted art exhibits and language classes in a growing part of the city, in its rented building on Calle 60.
Eleven university employees will move on a date to be determined. The new headquarters was built by renown Yucatecan architect Manuel Amábilis Domínguez, a Neomayist born in 1889.
Amábilis Domínguez is better known for transforming the Episcopal Palace, adjacent to the Cathedral of Mérida, into the Peninsular Athenaeum, which houses the MACAY. He also designed the library, bandshell and fountain and other elements at Parque de las Américas, considered by many to be Mérida’s prettiest public space.
The new location places UNAM’s new home near the José Martí Cultural Center as well as Sedeculta, the state’s ministry of culture.
One of the objectives of this new headquarters is not only to have a building of its own, but also to possibly expand its services and employ more workers, according to a report in Sipse.
