The Anahuacalli (from the Nahuatl word, whose meaning is "house surrounded by water"), is a temple of the arts designed by the Mexican muralist Diego Rivera.

Rivera designed its architecture in order to safeguard his vast collection of pre-Hispanic pieces, while exhibiting the most beautiful works of this set in the museum's main building.

According to the words of the Tabasco museographer and poet Carlos Pellicer, who designed the museum's permanent exhibition at the express indication of Rivera himself, the Anahuacalli responds to the following description: "It is a personal creation using pre-Hispanic elements, mainly from Toltec architecture and some of the Mayan: sloped walls, serpentine pilasters and rhomboid doors.

"[6] Diego Rivera planned the Anahuacalli as a great stage for the development of diverse artistic expressions such as theater, dance, painting and music.

These proposals are carefully chosen, as they must alternate harmoniously with the museum's architecture, with the pre-Columbian art on display, with the nature that surrounds it, and with the foundational and evolving concept of Diego's Anahuacalli.

The Anahuacalli is a testimony to Rivera's generosity; he created a prodigious architectural work to display his collection of pre-Hispanic art with the people of Mexico and the world.

Thanks to this museum, today, thousands of national and foreign visitors can delve into the creative universe that the muralist left housed in this unique place.

In June, 1940, Diego Rivera painted the mural Pan American Unity for the "Art in Action" program of the Golden Gate International Exposition[9](GGIE).

A year later, the Mexican artist Frida Kahlo (1907–1954) wrote a letter to the engineer Marte R. Gómez, then Secretary of Agriculture and Development of the government of President Manuel Ávila Camacho, in which she explained her husband's need to build a space that houses his collection.

As a result, she proposes to the engineer Marte R. Gómez, that the Mexican government supports the continuation of the construction works, with the condition that the muralist donate his collection to Mexico and turn the Anahuacalli into an archaeological museum.

[17] In memory of its creator, the following quote was chosen for the inscription engraved on the museum foundation stone: "I return to the people what I was able to rescue from the artistic heritage of their ancestors.

[19] Distinctively, the Anahuacalli architecture was as a response to the growing presence of the International Style; O'Gorman realized that his early buildings, influenced by Le Corbusier, were not agreeing with the Mexican landscape and therefore considered them as "invasive species".

[23] The Mexican architect considered Wright's work as the passage from a "servile veneration of European stupidity" to a confidence in the creative capacity of the American continent.

The four vertices were preserved as "chambers", where the contemporary and museographic altars are beautifully placed, alluding to those that served to worship deities in pre-Columbian Mesoamerican contexts.

In these letters, Rivera highlighted: "the importance of Ajusco for the solution of his project" and how the roof should "rhyme with the nose of Pico del Águila", due to its slender design.

Due to important decisions regarding costs, as well as for assuring the durability and the stability of the construction, Juan O'Gorman's final solution could not fully adhere to Diego's guidelines.

[32] Both Rivera and O'Gorman carried out technical and aesthetic experiments for the decorative endings inside the Anahuacalli, using the cast mosaic technique, which consists of: "Place some cardboard with the drawn sketches directly on the wooden formwork.

This intervention turned the Library into a multidisciplinary place, endowed with an interior architecture that enjoys a modern and functional design, which enables it to exhibit contemporary art installations and artworks of all kinds, as well as being a suitable room for conferences and talks.The land where the Anahuacalli was built appeared approximately 2000 years ago with the eruption of the Xitlevolcano, which produced a lava spill that, over time, became what is now the Pedregal de San Ángel.

[38] Although the explosion devastated the landscape of the Valley of Mexico, affecting forests and lakes, a new ecosystem emerged from the volcanic rock, which has been the object of inspiration for renowned artists such as Dr. Atl and the architect Luis Barragán.

[47] Juan Coronel Rivera, historian, writer and grandson of the painter, declares: "When the collection was very incipient, around 1934, he actually had very selected pieces; each one of them he placed on a base.

A clear example of this is the figure of Xochipilli, the Lord of the Flowers, whose image Rivera illustrated in the mural paintings located in the stairs of the Secretariat of Public Education (Secretaría de Educación Pública, SEP).

Mexican novelist and model Guadalupe Marín, Diego's wife for a time, was particularly upset by her husband's insistence on buying idols, regardless of his household expenses.

[52] Regarding the nature of his collection, Rivera did not want it to be a scientific sampler, but instead sought to return the pieces their Mana, which in the words of the anthropologist, historian and philosopher Mircea Eliade (Bucharest, 1907 –Chicago, 1986) is: "(…) the mysterious and active force possessed by certain individuals, generally the souls of the dead and all spirits (…).

In an interview with the painter, the American journalist Betty Ross commented that "The master affectionately touched a stone figure, which probably dated back thousands of years (…) he introduced me to Centéotl, a corn goddess, near whom Tlaloc was sitting, god of the waters (...)".

It is worth mentioning that the painter, together with Manuel Gamio, participated in esoteric ceremonies at the top of the Pyramid of the Sun, since both of them formed part of the Rosicrucian lodge "Quetzalcóatl".

In the large central space located on the second floor of the Anahuacalli, called "Study", are exhibited 16 sketches for different murals made by Rivera in the early thirties.

Being a born draftsman, Rivera was able to exploit his skills thanks to his training at the Academy of San Carlos in Mexico (1898–1905), as well as his participation in the European avant-gardes and the knowledge he acquired about traditional art during his residence period in Europe (1907–1921).

[43] The design of the new spaces was the work of the Mexican architect Mauricio Rocha Iturbide, who was meant to interpret Diego's initial project, achieving a dialogue between the original Anahuacalli building and the new structures.

Lola Forum: open-air space inserted in a green area, in dialogue with the vegetation that naturally emerges from the volcanic topography of El Pedregal.

The Anahuacalli Museum, in addition to housing the Diego Rivera's collection and sketches of his mural paintings, also offers a variety of workshops for diverse audiences.