UNAM: Architecture, Murals and the Modern Campus
How Ciudad Universitaria fused muralism and modern architecture into a single campus — free to walk, no reservations required.
Ciudad Universitaria was planned as one integrated statement — architecture, murals and open space designed together rather than added on afterward. This walk covers the most legible built expressions of that idea still standing on the original campus, from the stadium’s Rivera relief to the medical school’s Eppens mural.
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Free route for self-guided exploration · no guide or project support
Stops
- Estadio Olímpico UniversitarioAugusto Pérez Palacios, Raúl Salinas Moro, Jorge Bravo Jiménez, and Diego Rivera
Set into the volcanic terrain of Ciudad Universitaria rather than raised above it, the stadium reads from outside as an artificial crater.
- Torre de RectoríaEnrique del Moral, Mario Pani, and Salvador Ortega Flores
The tower acts as an urban marker within Ciudad Universitaria rather than as an isolated office building.
- Biblioteca Central de la UNAMJuan O'Gorman, Gustavo María Saavedra, and Juan Martínez de Velasco
The building brings architecture and muralism together as a single public image.
- Facultad de ArquitecturaJosé Villagrán García, Xavier García Lascuráin, and Alfonso Liceaga
Built as a system of connected blocks, workshops and courtyards rather than a single monumental volume, the school's architecture argues for its own teaching model — one where studio space continues directly into the campus's shared open ground instead of stopping at a building line.
- Pabellón de Rayos CósmicosFélix Candela and Jorge González Reyna
The pavilion turns a scientific structure into a construction experiment.
- Facultad de MedicinaPedro Ramírez Vázquez and Francisco Eppens Helguera
The building's west facade carries La vida, la muerte, el mestizaje y los cuatro elementos, a monumental glazed-ceramic mural by Francisco Eppens Helguera completed in the early 1950s.