The History of Mexico by Dennis Orlowski, 1980
Acrylic on plaster, 5 x 20, Mexican Village Restaurant
Detroit, Michigan

This mural illustrates some of the major events and people who shaped the history of Mexico. In the background lay the snow-capped mountains Papocatepetl and Ixtacihiatl. Legend has it that they are an Indian warrior and a princess who fell in love and eloped to the hills. They were chased by her father's men, and she was accidentally shot with an arrow. She died and the warrior stayed by her side, forever watching over her.

The two mountain peaks overlook the lake Texcoco, where in 1325 the Aztecs founded the city of Tenochtitlán (modern day Mexico City). Huitzilpochtli, the Aztec god, had told his people to move on until they found a place where an eagle stood on top of a tall cactus tree. When they found this sign (le! of mural), along with the added good luck of a serpent (an Aztec symbol of life), they se"led on the islands in the lake of Texcoco.

Moving to the right, the growth of the Aztec civilization is shown in the architecture of their pyramid and in the skill of the Aztec craftsman painting a symbol of Aztec culture, the feathered serpent. The splendor of the Aztecs was suddenly cut short by the arrival of Hernán Cortés and his forces by boat from Spain. The center of the mural illustrates the violent struggle which took place between Cortés' army and the Aztecs, led by their emperor Cuauhtémoc. An armored conquistador ba"les an Aztec Eagle Knight, against a golden version of the Aztec calendar.

The Spaniards came for gold and riches and got them in the se"ling of Mexico, as we see moving to the right, into the "Colonial Era" (1525-1810). An example of Spanish architecture, the main cathedral in the Zócalo (main square in Mexico City) contrasts with the Aztec pyramid to the le! and symbolizes the new power of the Spanish Catholic church in Mexico. Many times the Church was kind and helpful, but many Indians such as the one painted here were made to work as if they were slaves under a Spanish system of forced labor.

The right hand side of the mural shows three of those who led Mexico to independence from Spain and into democracy. The first was a parish priest, Father Manuel Hidalgo y Costilla, who led a rebel force of 80,000 citizens against the Spanish ruling class in Mexico City in 1810. To his right stands Benito Juárez, a pure Zapotec Indian, who became president of Mexico and was a major force in the writing of the Constitution of 1857. His liberal government introduced many reforms reducing the wealth and power of the Spanish Church in Mexico. He is known as the "Lincoln of Mexico" because of his hard-working, honest and independent nature. Emiliano Zapata is shown on horseback to the right of Benito Juárez. Zapata, also of Indian blood, is known for his revolutionary leadership and his goal of winning land for the Mexican peasant population.

Symbolizing the Mexico of today at the far right in the background is the main library of the University of Mexico, an example of modern Mexican architecture.