Caricature Museum, Mexico City

The Caricature Museum is located in an 18th-century Baroque building in the historic center of Mexico City. It was opened in 1987 to preserve and promote the history of Mexican cartooning, done for both political and entertainment purposes. The historic building it occupies was originally the home of Cristo College, a royal college established in 1612.The museumThe Caricature Museum was inaugurated in 1987 to "preserve, reprint and disseminate artistic works realized by Mexican cartoonists over history." The museum also offers workshops dedicated to cartooning, and other types of drawing. The permanent collection is in one hall on the ground floor, and begins with mostly political cartoons from the Porfirio Díaz presidency. Among these are 65 lithographs done between 1861 and 1875. Temporary exhibitions are held in the other hall of the ground floor, called the Hall of Mexican Expressive Art. The museum has hosted exhibition by famous-name artists such as José Clemente Orozco and Frida Kahlo, focusing on their political cartoon work and sketches. They have also recently held themed exhibitions such as "Piracy in the Modern World" and "Cartoons of the 19th Century.The Mexican Society of Cartoonists (La Sociedad Mexicana de Caricaturistas) has an exhibition hall, and also hosts temporary exhibitions, art workshops, conferences and book presentations, mostly on the museum's upper floor.Cristo College buildingThe building at 104 Donceles Street was originally the home of the Cristo College, founded by Don Cristobal Vargas de Valdez in 1612, when it received its royal charter. The college began with a dean and twelve students who took classes at San Ildefonso College and the College of San Pedro y San Pablo. No classes were given in this building, but it was still called a college because it offered scholarships for students living there. The college almost closed in 1774 due to lack of funds, and was subsequently merged with San Ildefonso College in 1775.