Parque de las Américas in Mérida (Mexico): cultural monument honoring 20th-century Pan-Americanism

Abstract

The 20th century saw the advent of modern architecture, whose international character generated diverse typologies with manifestations in local contexts. In Mexico, the so-called nationalist movement stands out, a fusion of the avant-garde and regional tradition with two main branches: Neocolonial and Neo-Indigenous. In the case of Mérida, the capital of the state of Yucatán, Mexico, two factors contributed to the emergence of the Neo-Mayan typology. First, it is a site of flourishing Mayan culture, and second, the post-revolutionary ideology of social reform established Neo-Mayan nationalism as the official style for public works. The historical moment of social and economic transition between the collapse of the henequen industry and the rise of the construction industry, along with the beginning of globalization, contributed to the creation of emblematic works in the city honoring Mexico, and particularly Pan-Americanism. The result is seen in works that reinterpret cultural identity from indigenous production to public works with more political interests than urban amenities. An example is the Parque de las Américas, an urban architectural work with its own identity. Its objective was to highlight Yucatán's strategic geographic location as Mexico, and primarily as the center of modern America, while also calling for international unity with an inclusive vision to create new connections and new spaces for exchange, interstices, and cultural junctures for economic, social, political, and cultural exchange. The work is structured in three parts: the context of the genesis and political conditions of Pan-Americanism, the urban architectural work, and the reinterpretation of Mayan culture in iconography and symbolism