A new take on colonization

The Korea Times

The Korea Times

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Foreign Affairs

A new take on colonization

Posted : 2011-07-10 11:37

Updated : 2011-07-10 11:37

A picture of the Plaza de la Paz, or the Plaza of Peace, displayed at the photo exhibition of Pedro Vazquez Nieto at Sookmyung Women’s University last Tuesday. Many of the current buildings surrounding the plaza in Guanajuato, Mexico, were once mansions of the richest families.

/ Courtesy of the Mexican Embassy

By Park Sung-hee

From the opulent use of color and ornaments to the oval windows and columns, all of the forty images of Guanajuato, Mexico are exhibited at Sookmyung Women’s University on Tuesday by photographer Pedro Vazquez Nieto, recounted the European style.

Labeled as a cultural and historical gem located at the center of Mexico, Guanajuato is recognized by UNESCO as a World Cultural Heritage Site for its “outstanding universal value from the viewpoint of history, art or science.” Despite its aesthetic beauty, many onlookers were caught off-guard by the rather modern pictures who were expecting artwork that depicted the indigenous civilizations that formerly housed the area, but the undeniable influence by the colonizers was a pride to many people of Mexico.

“This colonial city that (once) produced two-thirds of the silver in the world is very well preserved,”said Martha Ortiz de Rosas, the Ambassador of Mexico. “It is truly a city of beautiful architecture.”

Colonization ― though a word associated with negative sentiment in the modern day, many of the Mexican people had accepted the hurtful past while still making the most out of the present. Some even attributed their very existence to the Spanish.

“A lot of people think that since the Spanish conquered the indigenous people in Mexico that we have all these bad feelings towards Spain, but actually we see it in a completely different way,” said Jorge A. Agraz, third secretary in charge of the cultural and education affairs at the Mexican Embassy and main organizer of the event. “We consider them (Spaniards) the father or parents of our race.”

Mexico, the third largest country in Latin America, was first populated more than 13,000 years ago producing complex indigenous civilizations before being conquered by Spain in the 16th century until it gained independence in 1821. Since the Spanish conquest, Mexico has blended its numerous native civilizations with European culture, and perhaps nothing represents this better than the people with diverse backgrounds and colonial cities that have been well preserved.

“We are ‘mestizos’ today,” said the Ambassador referring to a term widely used in Latin America and Spain to describe people with mixed European and Native American heritage or descent. “We love both cultures because it is part of our culture now. We have architectural sights that represent this mixture of culture.”

While Mexico might be better known for its touristy beaches, spicy cuisine, catchy mariachi tunes, or its infamously strong tequila, perhaps the cities such Guanajuato that home the historical buildings such as the “Alhondiga de Granitas,” the venue of the first battle of the Mexican War of Independence between the insurgent forces and the Spanish royals, or the two churches that UNESCO claims as “the most beautiful examples of Baroque architecture in Central and South America” should be put at the forefront to represent the country that accepts the past and present.

shpark@koreatimes.co.kr