 |
Culture
Mexico is an eminently creative nation. Our country features among the nations that inherited lofty civilizations and possesses one of the most wide-ranging and diverse cultural patrimonies in the world.
Together with India and the United Kingdom, Mexico occupies the sixth place on UNESCO’s World Heritage list, only after Italy, Spain, China, Germany and France, and is the first in America. With 27 sites on said list, it possesses 3.2 percent of the world total, which amounts to 851 sites. Some of these sites, in many cases emblematic on the world scene, are part of the 173 archeological zones opened to the public in 27 states of the Republic and the Federal District.
In Mexico there are 1,107 museums, 113 are in the charge of the National Institute of Anthropology and History and 18 are operated by the National Institute of Fine Arts. Archeological zones and museums are the cultural spaces that receive the most visitors in the country.
The Cultural Information System lists 556 theaters in Mexico, 1,773 cultural centers, 7,211 libraries and 1,251 bookshops.
Mexico’s patrimonial wealth is also scattered among the streets of its cities and towns and in numerous places in the nation’s geography. The country has more than 113,000 monuments of historical value from the 16th to the 19th centuries and more than 16,000 of artistic value of the 20th century, made up of monumental zones, historical areas and urban features of great diversity and a marked character of their own.
Every year the largest world market for publications in Spanish takes place in Mexico, the Guadalajara International Book Fair, which was created in 1987 and brings together more than half a million people who for nine days enjoy one of Latin America’s most important cultural festivals.
In Mexico, culture is also within reach of children and young people. On its website, the National Council for Culture and the Arts has a section in which the latter can consult the cultural listings, editorial novelties and even navigate in a space in which they will find games, online library, works of art executed by visitors and a notable virtual tour of some of the country’s museums and libraries.
Mexico also has a great non-material cultural heritage that includes the languages, traditions, fiestas, ceremonies, artisan’s techniques, music, theatrical expressions, oral tradition, emblems, historical tradition, attire and gastronomy. In addition to Spanish, 62 indigenous languages and around 300 dialectal variants are spoken in Mexico, which gives an idea of the wide variety of cultures and native indigenous peoples that live and develop in the country.
Together with its cultural wealth, Mexico has developed a notable series of policies, institutions, spaces, programs and public services to make those values a common good in practice. Subject to the effects of time and the demands of new social circumstances, these results of cultural policy are also a social heritage that should be maintained, renewed and enriched.
The National Culture Program 2007-2012 establishes the bases for this necessary updating of the cultural administration and the redefinition of public policies in this field. With a long-term vision, it proposes actions aimed at a gradual transformation of cultural institutions and agencies, their legal setting, organizational bases, performance levels, efficiency and response capacity to the needs of the population and cultural development.
