History Recommendations

The National University of Mexico

and the Centenary of Independence

Por Oscar Quiroz

On September 22, 1910, a solemn ceremony was held to inaugurate the National University, which was highly relevant for its severe greatness and high moral significance; and the newly created institution, which, among other purposes, was expected to seek the uniformity and independence of higher education, was thus born with all pomp in the glorious month of the homeland and its 100th anniversary of independence.
The lavish event was held in the then new amphitheater of the National Preparatory School, met on the morning of the aforementioned day ambassadors and special envoys of friendly nations, members of the permanent diplomatic corps with representatives of foreign universities expressly invited to the act, as the directors and teachers of the high schools, as well as, many other distinguished people.
The President of the Republic, who upon his arrival was honored by a line company with flag and music, and whom the public received with applause, took a seat, accompanied by the members of his cabinet, On the official stage, and The ceremony began with a speech by Mr. Secretary of Public Instruction and Fine Arts, Mr. Justo Sierra. Then the President of the Republic stood to declare the new institute solemnly inaugurated, and Mr. Ezequiel Chavez, deputy secretary of public instruction, read the list of doctors at the university, among which characters such as Dr. Manuel Flores, deputy Pablo Macedo, Dr. Eduardo Liceaga, engineers Luis Salazar and Antonio Rivas to mention some of them.
After the words of the doctors successively the delegates of the universities of Paris, California, Geneva, Oviedo, Yale, Pennsylvania, Colombia, Berlin, Washington, Illinois, Texas, Chicago, Stanford who brought greetings and votes to the new university of the old and glorious intellectual centers they represented.
Subsequently, the Secretary of Public Instruction cheered in Latin for the university, the President of the Republic, Don Porfirio Díaz and the Mexican homeland, and a choir made up of children from the schools sang the national anthem. Afterwards, a procession was chaired by Mr. General Díaz, who was on foot to the building destined for the National University, when he arrived there, the secretary of public instruction took the protest of law to the rector, Dr. Joaquin Eguia Lis.
After the event, most of the guests went by train to the picturesque San Angel, where they were presented with a splendid banquet by Mr. Justo Sierra.

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