The Academy of San Carlos was integrated with the National Autonomous University of Mexico, eventually becoming the Faculty of Arts and Design, which is based in Xochimilco.

Jeronimo Antonio Gil was appointed the school's first director by Charles III of Spain and gathered prominent artists of the day including José de Alcíbar, Santiago Sandoval, Juan Sáenz, Manuel Tolsá, and Rafael Ximeno y Planes.

The new school began to promote Neoclassicism, focusing on Greek and Roman art and architecture, advocating European-style training of its artists.

[1] To this end, plaster casts of classic Greek and Roman statues were brought to Mexico from Europe for students to study.

So the institution tried to finance a building that Tolsá was designing on Nilpantongo Street, but it was way too expensive and it was paid by the Royal Seminar of Mining.

[1] In the early 19th century, the academy was closed for a short time due to the Mexican War of Independence as well as losing funding from the Spanish royal house.

When it fully reopened in the 1820s, it was renamed the National Academy of San Carlos and enjoyed the new government's preference for Neoclassicism, as it considered the Baroque reminiscent of colonialism.

[4] During the Second Mexican Empire, the school was known as the Imperial Academy of San Carlos and it received financial support from Emperor Maximilian I, who was a patron of the arts.

The dome parts were manufactured in France by Lapeyrere based on the design of director Antonio Rivas Mercado, and then shipped to Mexico to be assembled .

In 1929, the architecture program was separated from the rest of the academy,[1] and in 1953, this department was moved to the newly built campus of UNAM in the south of the city.

[4] Some of its most famous first teachers included Miguel Constanzó in architecture, José Joaquín Fabregat in metal engraving, Rafael Ximeno y Planes in painting and Manuel Tolsá in sculpture.

[2] José María Velasco is considered the greatest artist associated with the academy, famous for his landscapes of the Valley of Mexico and a mentor of Diego Rivera.

[2] A number of plaster casts of classic statues from the San Fernando Fine Arts Academy in Spain were brought here for teaching purposes.

However, the collection outgrew the original academy building as it received donations from private sources and purchases made by the Mexican government after independence.