Diego Rivera sculpture at Mexico City’s Olympic Stadium to undergo restoration

A multiyear preservation project is launching at the Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México (UNAM) to restore significant murals on its central campus. A primary focus is the restoration of Diego Rivera’s monumental stone relief, titled ‘The University, the Family and Sport in Mexico’ (1952-54), located on the exterior of the Estadio Olímpico Universitario.

The project is a collaboration between the World Monuments Fund (WMF) and UNAM. The restoration of Rivera’s work is supported by the U.S. Embassy in Mexico City through the U.S. Department of State’s Ambassadors Fund for Cultural Preservation. Local experts will carry out the work.

In addition to Rivera’s sculpture-painting, the initiative will encompass the preservation of David Alfaro Siqueiros’s three-dimensional mural on the rectory tower and Juan O’Gorman’s stone mosaic mural at the university’s main library. The UNAM campus was designated a UNESCO World Heritage site in 2007.