A 3,500-year-old city that connected the coast to the Andes has been discovered in Peru.

▲ An artist portrays an ancient Peñico resident at the conference where the discovery was announced. Photo: Xinhua

Reuters

La Jornada Newspaper, Monday, July 7, 2025, p. 4

Lima. Archaeologists revealed last Thursday a 3,500-year-old city in Peru that likely served as a trading center linking the cultures of the Pacific coast with those of the Andes and the Amazon, flourishing at roughly the same time as the earliest civilizations of the Middle East and Asia.

Drone footage released by researchers shows the city center marked by a circular terraced structure on a hillside, with remains of stone and mud buildings built about 600 meters above sea level.

The urban center, called Peñico, is located in the northern province of Barranca and was founded between 1800 and 1500 BC. It is near the site of the Caral civilization, the oldest in the Americas, which developed 5,000 years ago.

Caral, composed of 32 monumental structures, is considered contemporary with the civilizations of Egypt, India, Sumerian, and China. However, unlike these, it developed in complete isolation, according to researchers.

Ruth Shady, an archaeologist who led the research at Peñico, said the newly discovered city is key because experts believe it emerged after the Caral civilization was devastated by climate change.

They were located in a strategic place for trade with societies from the coast, the mountains and the jungle , Shady explained.

Archaeologist Marco Machacuay, from the Ministry of Culture, explained in a press conference that Peñico's importance lies in its continued presence in Caral society.

After eight years of study, researchers have identified up to 18 structures at Peñico, including ceremonial temples and residential complexes.

The walls of a central plaza are notable for their sculptural reliefs and representations of the pututu, a conch shell trumpet whose sound can be carried over great distances.

In other buildings, researchers found clay sculptures of human and animal figures, ceremonial objects, and necklaces made of beads and seashells, they added.

Peru is a center of ancient cultures and home to archaeological sites, such as the Inca ruins of Machu Picchu in Cusco and the mysterious Nazca Lines located in the desert region along the country's central coast.

▲ About 150 protesters addressed federal and local authorities. Photo: Luis Castillo

Reyes Martínez Torrijos

La Jornada Newspaper, Monday, July 7, 2025, p. 5

A group of residents from the Xochimilco borough and other parts of Mexico City gathered yesterday to demand the preservation and immediate reopening of the Dolores Olmedo Patiño Museum as a cultural and economic necessity for the area.

Recently, a controversy erupted over the announcement of the museum's relocation of the collection to Aztlán Park in Chapultepec. In response, some 150 people gathered in front of the museum's original facilities for this first organizational meeting.

The gathering coincided with the 118th anniversary of Frida Kahlo, an artist whose work is housed in the art gallery along with pieces by Diego Rivera, Angelina Beloff, and Pablo O'Higgins, as well as pre-Hispanic, New Spain, and popular art.

It was decided to hold a meeting today in the agora of the Carlos Pellicer theater to draft a document that will be delivered to the Presidency, the federal Ministry of Culture (SC) and the Xochimilco mayor's office in which they will request that the museum be respected and reopened .

Other proposals included collecting signatures, establishing a graphic campaign to raise awareness about the issue, learning more about the legal aspects of the trust for the donation of Rivera and Kahlo's works to the people of Mexico, and the possibility of filing a writ of amparo against the transfer of the collection assembled by patron Dolores Olmedo Patiño.

Last Saturday, a group of intellectuals, including Eduardo Matos Moctezuma, Felipe Leal, Carmen Gaitán, and Ofelia Medina, demanded the immediate reopening of the space in a letter addressed to the SC, the capital's government, and the National Institutes of Fine Arts and Literature, and of Anthropology and History.

A day earlier, the museum announced that it will reopen its Xochimilco headquarters in 2026. It had been closed since 2021 for restoration and modernization, allowing it to continue presenting its collection at the headquarters founded by the collector who gives the cultural space its name.

During the meeting, it was reported that the museum is one of the few that exist in the area. They warned about what they called the growing centralization of culture and reiterated their belief that the museum should remain in its original location.

A resident said the space is important for the monetary benefits it generates in Xochimilco, in addition to its role in promoting art through exhibitions, workshops, and concerts. It's an opportunity we're missing, and we must fight for it .

They also expressed their distrust that the museum, as announced a few days ago, will reopen in 2026, as they detected ambiguities in the official statement and about preserving the artistic collection together, since it is not just a collection of paintings, but a container, and responds to a collecting project .

▲ The immersive experience opens on July 17 at the Espacio Alter headquarters in the Anáhuac neighborhood. Photo courtesy of the studio .

Ana Monica Rodriguez

La Jornada Newspaper, Monday, July 7, 2025, p. 5

The biography of Frida Kahlo, a woman who challenged her era with strength, rebellion, and artistry, transforming pain into an immortal legacy , can be experienced through an immersive experience spanning a thousand square meters of screens, installations, previously unreleased music, and historic photographs.

Frida Kahlo: The Life of an Icon is an immersive biography that, beginning July 17 at Espacio Alter CDMX, will reveal the artist's childhood, as well as her passions and moments that forged her legacy as an emblem of global culture.

This biography is presented without reproductions of her paintings in order to take a further step in the new immersive languages , explained the directors Leonardo Ulloa and Xavier Pedraza about the initiative that uses video mapping, the third dimension, kinetic sensors, audio remastering and artificial intelligence in order to reveal Kahlo from a more human side.

We seek to put ourselves in her shoes, in certain stages of her life that shaped and shaped her, but using different narratives in interactive, holographic spaces with virtual reality and artificial intelligence; that is, we use multiple technologies that help us delve into her life , Ulloa said.

The experience is designed chronologically, following a journey from his childhood to his death; we begin in 1907 and end in 1954, all narrated through 11 technologies .

This initiative, Ulloa recalled, was born in 2019, when the immersive and interactive experience development studio merged with its colleagues in Barcelona. “This is a Mexico-Catalonia project, in which we seek to explore and guide viewers through the stories of global figures, one of whom is Frida Kahlo, one of the most complex figures of the 20th century.”

With resilience, she overcame countless challenges in her life, from her childhood with polio, to the accident and everything that ensued. She is recognized for her work and for Diego Rivera; now we offer to delve into the artist's biography with technology to tell new generations what her life was like from her perspective , commented Xavier Pedraza.

The tour takes an hour and a half, during which, in addition to learning about stages of her life, you'll see holographic pieces and explore the fashion she herself established. Everything adds up to this pictographic, dreamlike, and emotional journey. Leonardo Ulloa elaborated on the project, which was carried out in collaboration with the Frida Kahlo Corporation .

The immersive production premiered in Barcelona, ​​from where it traveled to Singapore, New York, Montreal, Rio de Janeiro, Tel Aviv, and Sydney, among other cities, until it finally reached Mexico City.

The opening of Frida Kahlo: The Life of an Icon will be on Thursday, July 17 at Espacio Alter (Laguna de Términos 260, Anáhuac neighborhood).