Museo Anahuacalli

Diego Rivera’s volcanic-stone temple-museum for his pre-Columbian collection, on the Pedregal lava field in Coyoacán, Mexico City. In Hayden Herrera’s Frida the couple build it together after their remarriage, and Frida sells property to help pay for it.

At a glance

Source	Author	Role	In one line
Frida	Hayden Herrera	subject	Diego’s “pyramid” rises on the Pedregal; Frida gives land and sells her apartment to fund it.

Frida — Hayden Herrera (1983)

Source: Frida - A Biography of Frida Kahlo · Original · Readwise highlight

and “Rivera Traditional” (the same style in which he built the new wing to the Coyoacán house), Rivera constructed, out of the gray volcanic rock of the surrounding fields, a building that is both brutal and elegant.

• Role: subject
• In the book: From 1942 the Riveras start “a strange kind of ranch” on the Pedregal, first a stable that serves as their “home” during the war, then Diego’s museum for his idols. Frida gives him title to land she owns and sells her apartment to pay for it, and writes to a government minister asking for help, praising the view of the Ajusco.
• Why it matters: The book presents the shared building project as helping to cement the remarriage. Frida later describes it rising from the Pedregal “like an enormous cactus”.