Churubusco Area

The Churubusco Area is just east of the historic center of Coyoacán. It's a historic district known especially for the campus of the giant National Center for the Arts (CENART), which is nearly a destination in itself.

That center came to be on the grounds of the formerly giant Churubusco films studios. They still operate just south of CENART, but for most of the 20th century, the mere mention of Churubusco brought with it visions of the Golden Age of Mexican Cinema.

The City's first Cineteca Nacional was inaugurated here in January 1974. A 1982 fire destroyed these facilities and important cinematographic material kept there, and the Cineteca was reopened at it's present location in January 1984.

Prior to the 20th century, of course, the Battle of Churubusco still loomed large in the memory of all of Mexico. That August 1847 battle raged throughout the fields and furrows surrounding the old monastery complex.

Today the main monastery building serves as a center for the study of multiple 19th century conflicts. It's name was borrowed from that of neighboring San Diego Churubusco, one of the seven original settlements of Coyoacán. The name comes from the ancient river which combined the waters of the Mixcoac and Magdalena rivers and flowed from here into the Xochimilco Lake. This fact is better remembered today at the very eastern edge of the area, in the restored Canal Nacional park and recreation area.

To the north, the modern neighborhoods of both Benito Juaréz and Iztapalapa once provided farmland for these ancient and colonial-era communities.