Virtual, magical and mystical tour
By Arturo Morales Tirado July 18, 2008 San Miguel de Allende

Lecture
Teotihuacan: Where gods are born
Thu, July 24, 1:30pm
Teatro Santa Ana
Biblioteca Pública
Insurgentes 25
50 pesos

Visit Teotihuacán and celebrate the Mexican myth of the birth of the gods, experience an urban design more than 2,000 years old and reflect on the cosmic order that set a cultural development pattern for 700 years. Old and wise Teotihuacan architects placed the cosmopolitan city as an extension and permanent link between it, the region, the planet and the universe.

The city grew to a population of 80,000–120,000, one of the largest in the world at the time, and was the most influential in Mesoamerica during the classic period.

Today the city is the most investigated and perhaps the most spectacular archaeological site of pre-Hispanic Mexico. It is the cultural and social bridge between the formative eras and the Post-classic in Mesoamerica, one of the world’s original civilizations. Now it is enshrined in Mexican iconography and idiosyncrasies, such as the use of public spaces to spread knowledge, ideas and ideology. Recent discoveries at the site shed new light on contemporary Mexican culture.

We invite you to a virtual tour of this UNESCO World Heritage site, in a lecture with dozens of photographs. In addition to the pyramids (the second highest in the world), murals, squares, palaces and residential areas, Teotihuacan offers a most successful museum designed by Pedro Ramírez Vázquez and a restaurant inside a spectacular natural cave.

Classical interactions

Chamber Music Festival
Bryan Townsend
Tues, July 22, 7pm
Sala Quetzal
Biblioteca Pública
Reloj 50A
50-peso donation

On Tuesday, musicologist Bryan Townsend will discus “When Jimi Meets Ludwig: Interactions between Popular Music and Chamber Music.”

“It is often thought that chamber music and popular music live in two different worlds,”

Townsend said, “but in truth, there has always been a dialogue between them. The earliest quartets were deeply influenced by popular comic opera and dance forms and some very recent chamber music takes its themes from a popular group of Romanian gypsies. There are also some instances when pop music has looked to chamber music for inspiration. I don't want to give any more details or it will take away from the surprises.”

Townsend has degrees in musicology and performance from McGill University. His lecture starts at 7 p.m. in the Sala Quetzal in the Biblioteca Publica. Admission is 50 pesos to benefit the summer festival. 

File your teeth, keep your eyes crossed

Lecture
Magnificent Maya, Part II
Professor Guillermo Méndez
Wed, July 23, 3pm
Teatro Santa Ana
Biblioteca Pública
Insurgentes 25
50 pesos

The Maya, the most advanced Mesoamerican civilization, inhabited what are today five Central American countries. At a time when Europeans were deeply mired in the Dark Ages, the Maya built cities and paved roadways, published illustrated books and plotted the movements of planets and stars.

This follow-up lecture to Part I given last week by Professor Guillermo Méndez focuses on Maya religion, politics and sex. Maya religion was complex but intimately connected to daily life. Everything in nature was sacred and possessed spiritual energy. Mayan politics in the Classic Period (AD 250-900) centered on semi-divine kings who ruled and expanded their influence through warfare, marital unions (they could have “secondary” wives) and diplomacy. The beautiful (sexy) Mayan, male or female, would have had an intentionally deformed skull, filed and inlaid teeth, decorative facial scars and, if lucky, slightly crossed eyes.