Elements of Sacred Geometry from the building of Instituto de Botánica Darwinion

Abstract

Dr. Cristóbal María Hicken built the “Instituto de Botánica Darwinion” in San Isidro at the
beginning of the 20th century as a “temple” of botanical research in honor of Charles Darwin,
intending to donate it to the national government after his death. The Darwinion features
a meticulous academic design within the orthodoxy of the Beaux-Arts School. In a neoTihuanacota style within the Art Deco movement, its ornamentation combines pre-Hispanic
American and European elements as a metaphor for a journey from ignorance to knowledge of
nature. It is very likely that Hicken participated in the design of the building, its ornamentation,
and its message, given his knowledge of surveying, construction, and his status as a Masonic
master. With this background, it is worth asking whether its composition also follows the canons
of sacred geometry: forms, proportions, and orientations that ancient builders used to reflect the
divine order of the cosmos. The analysis of original plans and documents revealed the alignment
of the property’s center with the building’s center; the number 6 as a structural module; the
square as a fundamental form; the Pythagorean constant, the golden ratio, and the silver ratio
in its proportions; and the use of the solstitial rectangle in the layout of the main halls. These
elements are consistent with sacred geometry and integrate with the ornamentation into an
eclectic, harmonious whole that balances message, function, and identity.