Public University Library and Old Collection

This place houses an ancient bibliographic collection made up of 22,901 volumes that make up the largest ancient literary collection in Mexico, held by a public university. The current library was the Temple of the Society of Jesus, which is attached to the former convent of Francisco Xavier Clavijero. Its interior is worthy of a movie scene.

• The Baroque style temple was completed by the Jesuits in 1695, after having passed through provisional headquarters.
• Both the temple and the current Clavijero Palace were occupied by the Society of Jesus until 1767, when the entire order was expelled from New Spain by order of King Charles III.
• The temple became property of the State in the 19th century, and until the last century, President Lázaro Cárdenas donated it to the Universidad Michoacana with the proposal of creating the public library by rescuing volumes from private collections.
• It contains volumes dating back to the 15th and 16th centuries, although it also houses a modern reference collection for high school students.
• The building has six murals, five of which are the work of American artists Hollis Howard and S.C. Schonenberg. Only the mural “La patria” is the work of a Mexican: Antonio Silva Díaz.