The Telegraph Museum was established in the former Telegram Hall of the former Communications Palace, with the purpose of disseminating the history of the first means of instantaneous communication at a distance, and as a testimony to the function that the building had for almost a century. The museum shows a full history of the subject, from its introduction in Mexico in 1849 to the transmission of the last message in Morse code in 1992. It highlights the origins, development and social importance of the telegraph through an extraordinary collection of telegraphic apparatuses of different epochs and facsimile reproductions of telegrams and documents of historical importance, complemented by graphic, audiovisual, interactive and sculptural representations.
The challenge of the project was to convert one of the most beautiful interiors of the Palace, made up of open spaces profusely decorated, and with sumptuous gilded wood ceilings that frame splendid allegorical paintings, to a functional museum complex. It was necessary that the integration of technical installations and other necessary adjustments, and the exhibitions themselves, not conceal or modify these architectural and decorative features. On the contrary, these features were to be restored to their original splendor.
For this purpose, museographic elements were designed to not interfere with the appreciation of the halls, and at the same time, stand out from the architecture. The exhibition elements were arranged separated from the walls and ceiling, and in direct relation to the structure of the spaces. Each element contains its own spot lighting, while it houses, hidden, the lamps that illuminate the ceiling. For the artistic values of the spaces, the sequences and expository itineraries emphasizing their geometry and symmetrical composition, the play of opacity and transparency, lightness and permanence of the museographic elements, and the careful illumination, make a museum twinned with the architecture.
Location: East of the old Palace of Communications, Xicotencatl No. 4, Historic Center, Mexico City
Year: 2001
Client: Patronato of the National Museum of Art, A.C. And TELECOM
Project Scope: Architectural adaptation of the spaces of the museum, project and realization of museography.
Exposure area: 840 m2
Project Director: Jorge Agostoni
Collaborators: Mara Vázquez Moreno, Vicente Romero Rubí, Alejandro Leal Palacios, Margarita Zavala Yáñez, Hilario Rangel Ramírez, José Fidel Solís Flores, Silvana Agostoni.