Kislak Talks - Becoming Mexico City: Early Maps of the Oldest Continuous Metropolis in the Americas

Join MOAD at the Freedom Tower for an engaging edition of the Kislak Talks series, Becoming Mexico City: Early Maps of the Oldest Continuous Metropolis in the Americas featuring Delia Cosentino, Professor of History of Art and Architecture at DePaul University in Chicago.

This talk features a series of maps made during the first 100 years of Spanish colonial rule to show how the capital city of Mexico has taken shape, both in terms of urban planning—and in the imagination. Cartography by both native and European artists demonstrates how the capital of the Aztec Empire, called Tenochtitlan, provided the literal foundations for the early modern Spanish capital that replaced it following the European invasion in the 1520s. The maps showcase Aztec migration and mythology, the incursion of Hispanic elements into native spaces, and other intriguing aspects of the oldest continuous metropolis in the Americas.

Delia Cosentino is Professor of History of Art and Architecture at DePaul University in Chicago, specializing in the visual culture of Greater Mexico. She is currently a Mellon Foundation Long-Term Fellow at the Newberry Library (2025-2026), researching Aztec gladiators. Cosentino co-authored Resurrecting Tenochtitlan: Imagining the Aztec Capital in Modern Mexico City (UT Press, 2023) with Adriana Zavala (Tufts University) and wrote Las Joyas de Zinacantepec: Arte Colonial en el Monasterio de San Miguel (Colegio Mexiquense, Mexico, 2007). She also curated Ceramic Trees of Life from Mexico (Fowler Museum, UCLA, 2003), Reverence Renewed: Colonial Andean Art from the Thoma Collection (DePaul Art Museum [DPAM], 2009), and Nexo/Nexus: Latin American Connections in the Midwest (DPAM, 2016).

Visitors to the Freedom Tower may park for free in the MDC garage at 500 NE Second Avenue, between NE Fifth and NE Sixth Streets (designated Building 7 on MDC's Wolfson Campus parking map).

The Museum of Art and Design (MOAD) at MDC may document the event, including its attendees. By entering the area, and/or participating in the event, you consent to the recording and its use in any form.

The programs at the Freedom Tower, operated by the Museum of Art and Design (MOAD) at Miami Dade College (MDC), are made possible with the support of the Miami-Dade County Department of Cultural Affairs and the Cultural Affairs Council, the Miami-Dade County Mayor, and the Board of County Commissioners. They are sponsored by the State of Florida through the Division of Arts and Culture, the National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH), the National Trust for Historic Preservation, the Institute of Museum and Library Services (IMLS), with collections, exhibition, and marketing support from ArtesMiami, Art Bridges Foundation, the Shepard Broad Foundation, the Miami Downtown Development Authority (Miami DDA), Henry Luce Foundation, Jay I. Kislak Foundation, Mitchell Wolfson Sr. Foundation, and US Century Bank.

Image: Hernán Cortés (c.1485–1547), Praeclara Ferdina[n]di Cortesii de noua maris oceani Hyspania narratio sacratissimo…,1524, Book. Jay I. Kislak Collection of the Early Americas, Exploration and Navigation, MDC PC 2018.1.12