Located in a former elementary school, the Professor Nestor Agundez Martinez Cultural Center in Todos Santos, Mexico, tells a story of the town’s development and the people who contributed to its evolution. View artifacts, photographs and artwork that trace the town’s history from the indigenous age to its founding by Jesuits in the 1730s to revolutionary days to current times. Enter a reconstructed ranchero homestead that shows the living arrangements of earlier inhabitants in a thatched house.
Professor Martinez was born in Todos Santos and his lifetime achievements included being an author, theater director, dance teacher and choreographer. He dedicated over 30 years to developing the cultural center and was a strong supporter of other buildings in the town, including Márquez de León Theater. Learn more about this remarkable man at the cultural center. Although Martinez passed away in 2009, the center’s docents will answer questions or provide more information, generally in Spanish.
Notice several interesting features inside the long building. Three walls are covered with large murals painted in soft blues, yellows and reds. These were painted in 1933 by students in a provocative fashion inspired by Soviet philosophy. You may recognize Frida Kahlo in one of the paintings on the wall. Another portrait is of a woman, famous locally as a hero. La Coronela was part of the defensive forces representing the town during the Revolution.
Find the Professor Nestor Agundez Martinez Cultural Center on Calle Benito Juárez. Locals may refer to it as the Casa de Cultura or House of Culture. The site is also the local public library. Events are occasionally held at the center that feature music, dance and food, such as a ballet folklórico. While you are in the area visit the Hotel California and its Emporium as well as the Jill Logan Gallery across the street.
