The Palace of the School of Medicine is a place dependent on the Faculty of Medicine of the National Autonomous University of Mexico (UNAM).
This palace is a public institution, which is why it preserves and disseminates knowledge of the history of Mexican medicine, as well as its past as the former headquarters of the Tribunal of the Holy Office in New Spain.
In addition, it is a must-see within the historic center to visit, because it is a promoter of the dissemination of culture, art and medical sciences.
If you want to know the Palace of the School of Medicinewe will give you all the information you need to know, as well as its history.
Where is the Palace of the School of Medicine?
The Palace of the School of Medicine is located at República de Brasil, number 33, Historical Center of Mexico City.
Visiting hours are Monday to Sunday from 9:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m.
This palace has educational guided tours, so they are suitable for people who are going to take the university, primary, secondary, high school and general public tour.
If you want to request reports, Press here.
Temporary rooms and exhibitions
Now, the names of the rooms are ad hoc to the palace, which are:
- Anatomy
- Drugstore
- Waxes
- Reconstructive surgery
- Embryology
- herbalism
- Histology
- Prehispanic Medicine
- Ophthalmology
- Otorhinolaryngology
Meanwhile, the Temporary exhibitions that this venue has, according to its website is 2013-2016 by various artists, Infinito y Possibility by Francisco Cabriales, The Beauty of My Enemy by God Lourie, Malaise by Darío Meléndez, El corazón del monte by Cristina Ochoa and Las hallucinaciones by Antonio Gritón.
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History of the Palace
This is the history of the Palace of the School of Medicine, as indicated on its UNAM website:
The project and execution of the Old Palace of the Inquisition were entrusted to the architect Pedro de Arrieta, Senior Master of the Material Works of the Holy Office.
The location of the building, north of the Plaza de Santo Domingo, between the temple of the same name and the Royal Customs House, is essential to understand the social, political, economic and religious importance that the palace had in the capital of New Spain.
Construction began in 1732 and was completed in 1736. During those four years, Arrieta received a daily salary of two pesos. The building was the headquarters of the Tribunal of the Holy Office for 84 years, until the court was permanently closed in 1820.
After several years of abandonment and disuse, in 1838, the palace was publicly auctioned, but no one bought it; The legends and myths surrounding the Inquisition scared away potential buyers.
Later, the building was the temporary headquarters of the city’s Archbishopric, the National Lottery, a primary school and even a military barracks. Finally in 1854 it became the School of Medicine.
For almost a hundred years, medicine and nursing lessons were taught in the palace, a boarding school was even created for students and the chapel became the Academy of Medicine, where graduating doctors took the Hippocratic Oath.
In 1956, the Medicine School It was moved to the UNAM University City and extensive restoration work began on the Palace to recover the damage that the years of intense use had caused. The restoration was completed in 1980 and on December 22 of that same year the Museum of Mexican Medicine was inaugurated.
