Spanish Atheneum of Mexico

This is the invitation to the ceremony on 12 June 2024 in which the government of Spain declared the Spanish Atheneum of Mexico a Site of Memory

The Spanish Atheneum of Mexico was founded in Mexico City in 1949 by a group of Spanish Republican exiles and Mexican intellectuals. The policies of president Lázaro Cárdenas permitted the arrival of thousands of exiles between 1939 and 1946. Several organizations facilitated: the Service for the Evacuation of Spanish Republicans (SERE), the Committee for Assistance to Spanish Republicans (JARE), the Technical Committee for Aid to Spanish Republicans (CTARE), and the Administrative Commission of Aid Funds for Spanish Republicans (CAFARE).

The Atheneum was founded to serve as a space for the exchange of ideas between exiles and Mexican civil society, as well as for preserving the memory of the Spanish Republic (whose symbolic representation that appears here is located above the entrance to the building) and the Civil War. Over the years, it has also worked to promote the legacy of the Republican exile in Mexico, showcasing the significant influence of Spanish Republicans on Mexico's cultural, artistic, and political life. The majority of the members are the descendants of exiles. The Atheneum has established cooperative ties with Spanish and Mexican companies and institutions.

The Atheneum is currently headquartered in a building within the Education Office of the Embassy of Spain in Mexico, where it also shares space with the National Distance Education University (UNED), a state institution. It operates as a civil association dedicated to “preserving and disseminating the historical memory of the Spanish exile in Mexico” by organizing various cultural activities. To this end, it also maintains an archive of the exile, a historical collection made up of donations from the personal libraries and documents of exiles. Its bibliographic collection is considered one of the main sources of documentation on the Spanish Civil War and the Republican exile worldwide. A significant portion of these documents, including those from the Diplomatic Archive of the Mexican Embassy in France (1935-1945), has been digitized in recent years and is available to researchers and the general public on its website (https://www.ateneoesmex.com).

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