1. Mission

2. Motto

3. History
     Eloy Alfaro and the foundation of the Instituto Nacional Mejía    Previous locations    Further expansions  

4. Buildings
     Edificio Central    Edificio Internado    Edificio Sur    Stadium  

5. Library

6. Museums of the Instituto Nacional Mejía
     Natural History Museum    Ethnographic Museum  

7. Notable Alumni

8. Fiestas del Mejía

9. References

Instituto Nacional Mejía is a public secondary educational institution in Quito, capital city of Ecuador. It was founded on June 1, 1897^[1] by the then president of Ecuador Eloy Alfaro^[2].

Mission

According to its authorities, the mission of the institution is the following:

“It [the Instituto Nacional Mejía] is a secular and experimental High School that educates, prepares and graduates its students with a critical - reflexive mind, and provides them with a scientific Humanist instruction with a view towards social change and national development”.

Motto

The school motto is the Latin phrase Per aspera ad astra ("through hardships to the stars").

History

Eloy Alfaro and the foundation of the Instituto Nacional Mejía

The Liberal Revolution of 1895 marked the beginning of period of numerous reforms and important modernisation efforts in Ecuador^[2]. One of the most influential and famous leading figures of the Revolution was Eloy Alfaro, who would then serve as President of Ecuador for two, non-consecutive, terms until his assassination in 1912^[2]. Under his rule, the Ecuadorian government started a series of important works such as the completion of the Trans-Andean Railway connecting Quito and Guayaquil^[2]. Furthermore, the new Liberal government unfolds a process of secularisation of the state^[2]. This is instanciated at the educational level in the construction of several of the first secular educational institutions of the country^[2][3], the clearest example of this being the foundation of the Instituto Nacional Mejía^[3] on June 1, 1897 by Mr Alfaro's orders^[10]. Other important institutions for the country founded by Mr Alfaro include a School of Beaux Arts^[3], the second foundation of the National Conservatory of Music of Ecuador^[4], and the Manuela Cañizares High School^[5].

Previous locations

The Instituto Nacional Mejía was originally located on the north side of the Metropolitan Cultural Centre^[6] and later moved to an old building informally known as the "antiguo Beaterio"^[7][6], Spanish for "old nunnery", (which had formerly served for various purposes, from religious retreat to Catholic girls school^[8]), at the intersection of the streets José Joaquín de Olmedo and Sebastián de Benalcázar. Both buildings were located at the heart of Quito's Old Town ("Centro Histórico"). On 1922, the high school administration commissioned a new, bigger building, to the German architect Wilhelm Spahr and the local architect Pedro Aulestia Saá^[6]. Thus, the high school would remain at the latter location only up until the early 1930s^[8]. The construction of a new building is also to be taken against the backdrop of the celebration of the hundred years since the Battle of Pichincha (May 24, 1822), which is conventionally seen as securing the separation of the territories of the then Real Audiencia of Quito from the Spanish Empire, an important antecedent for the construction of Ecuador as a republic^[9].

Further expansions

The newly founded secondary school quickly acquired popularity and prestige within the country. Hence, following the limited availability of spaces to meet the increasing student demand, a new large building was built on the 1950s on the west side of the block occupied by the Edificio Central^[7]. The original purpose of this building was to house the students who came from the various provinces of Ecuador^[7]. Later its infrastructure was repurposed to make room for more student classrooms and laboratories^[7]. Thus, giving birth to the Edificio Internado. Later, in the 1970s, the School of Telecommunications of the Army of Ecuador ceded its building to the High School, establishing in this way the Edificio Sur^[6]. This last building occupies a second block, separated from the rest of the High School by the Antonio Ante street.

Thus, this complex of buildings comprising the Instituto Nacional Mejía are currently located on the north end of Quito's Old Town.

Buildings

Several buildings integrate the current architectural complex of the Instituto Nacional Mejía. These include:

Edificio Central

In 1922, the administration of the Instituto Nacional Mejía orders the construction of this building to the German architect Wilhelm Spahr^[6]. This will become the future Edificio Central (Spanish for "Central Building"), located at the intersection of the Vargas and Juan Pablo Arenas streets. It was the second public Neoclassical style building of Ecuador^[10], after the Teatro Nacional Sucre and became an icon of the architectural landscape of Quito, in the first half of the 20th century^[6].

The building was constructed on top of irregular terrain^[6]. The German architect used this irregularity to his advantage by adding some series of long stone staircases leading up to the Neoclassical façade; adding up to the monumentality of the whole building^[6]. In this way, the façade of the school overlooks the entire Juan Pablo Arenas street.

The Neoclassical style displayed by the Edificio Central is inspired by the architecural style of the 16th century Italian and English rural mansions designed by the Paduan architect Andrea Palladio^[6]. Characteristic of this Palladian style is the school façade composed by tall columns of several floors high and its pediment^[6].

Spahr originally envisioned the central part of the building (marked by the façade) as serving for administrative duties, whereas the pavilions on both extremes were conceived as student accommodations, and the sections in between as spaces for laboratories and classrooms^[6]. But by 1928 this idea was abandoned and the pavilions at both ends of the Edificio Central were repurposed to fit more classrooms and laboratories^[6].

Edificio Internado

Edificio Sur

Stadium

Library

The library of the Instituto Nacional Mejía holds about 45 000 books^[11] and is open to the public. The oldest of its books dates back to 1656 and was written by the Augustinian friar Gaspar de Villaroel^[11]. The collection also includes Reflexiones Acerca de las Viruelas (1785), "Reflexions on Smallpox", a medical manuscript by the prominent 18th century physician, writer, and lawyer Eugenio Espejo, who would become "the first scholar to address issues of prophylaxis and hygiene in the Real Audiencia of Quito"^[12].

Following the expulsion of the Society of Jesus from Ecuador, its members abandoned the country leaving behind their entire library collections, which were then stored in several sacks^[11]. Then, during the presidency of Eloy Alfaro, founder of the high school, the Jesuit book collections were distributed among the National Library, the Library of the Central University of Ecuador (UCE), and the Library of the Instituto Nacional Mejía^[11]. This accounts for the latter's ownership of books that significantly predate the founding itself of the high school.

Museums of the Instituto Nacional Mejía

The Instituto Nacional Mejía possesses two museums within its architectural complex: a natural history museum and an ethnographic museum. Both are open to the public.

Natural History Museum

Known as Museo de Ciencias Naturales ("Museum of Natural Science"), it is regarded as one of the first and most important of its kind in the country^[10]. It contains a collection of 2 847 animals comprising 2 246 birds, 293 mammals, 172 reptiles, 122 fish, and 14 amphibians^[13].

It was founded in 1905^[14] by disposition of Eloy Alfaro, who ordered the purchase of 50 animal specimens from the Deyrolle house in Paris along with some national specimens^[10][14]. In 1920 there was an acquisition of an additional 1 000 specimens of Ecuadorian fauna^[10]. The collection was later transferred to the Edificio Central (Central Building) once its construction was completed, where it remains today. As the years progressed, the collection would continue to grow intermittently with the addition of private collections from leading families of the country^[10].

In 1936, Gustavo Orcés, regarded as the father of Zoology studies in Ecuador^[15], insisted on identifying and classifying the ornithologic section held in the museum^[16]. During this work, the pioneer Ecuadorian zoologist managed to identify specimens pertaining to around 1 000 species of the 1 400 known in the country at the time^[16]. In 1943, he finished his taxonomic labour in the museum^[16][10].

In 1981, an agreement with the Central Bank of Ecuador ensured the funding for the restoration and rehabilitation of the museum^[10]. This intervention was scientific and museographic in character and it included once again the participation of Gustavo Orcés, along with other teachers of the high school such as Fernando Ortiz, Osvaldo Báez, and Bolívar Reinoso^[10].

As already established, the collection of birds is the most important and numerous of the museum. It includes birds as diverse as "curiquingues", "tayos", condors, and various species of tucans, owls, gavilans and parrots. In addition, there are embalmed species of Galápagos tortoise, sharks, iguanas, snakes, and mammals like the jaguar, armadillos, bats, rodents and marsupials, etc^[10].

Ethnographic Museum

The Ethnographic Musem contains a collection of 57 wooden scultures with traditional clothing and settings depicting several of the ethnic groups of the country^[17], covering the three natural regions of the Ecuadorian mainland and divided into 18 rooms^[18]. It also serves as the de facto Anthropological Museum of Ecuador^[19].

In 1950, the pieces of the Anthropological Museum of Ecuador were owned by the National Institute of Anthropology and Geography^[17], and were exhibited until 1952^[19]. In 1974 those pieces (22 wooden sculptures) were donated to the Instituto Nacional Mejía^[19][17], thus establishing its Ethnographic Museum. The author of the pieces was the sculptor Galo Tobar^[18].

A total of 21 ethnicities are depicted in the 18 rooms^[19]. The aim of the museum is to provide a representation of the different ethnic groups of Ecuador in their daily activities (as traditionally ascribed to them). The groups represented include Shuar, Achuar, Cofán, Huaorani, Salasaca, Tsachila, Awá, Saraguro and Otavalo people among others. It also includes sculptures of Danzantes of Cayambe (or of Aricucho), and Danzantes of Huachi^[19].

In addition, this museum possesses some original indigenous items such as head rings, and "tzantzas". It also displays some embalmed specimens of local animals, dioramas, and fragments of Ecuadorian megafauna bones.

Notable Alumni

The school is associated, through its alumni, with several relevant figures within the Ecuadorian context and beyond, in particular in the cultural sphere. Some of its alumni include:

Hugo Alemán (Quito, June 10, 1898 – Quito, December 3, 1983), poet^[20]. He worked in the Pichincha provincial government as secretary, was the director of the Library of the Central University of Ecuador and the Library of the Instituto Nacional Mejía. He integrated the "La Ronda" group along with Ricardo Álvarez and Augusto Arias^[21].

Augusto Arias^[22][23] (Quito, March 15, 1903 – Quito, August 23, 1974), poet.

Jorge Carrera Andrade (Quito, September 18, 1903 – Quito, November 7, 1978), poet and diplomat. He was also teacher of literature at the Instituto Nacional Mejía before accepting a position as Ecuadorian diplomat to France^[24].

Gonzalo Escudero Moscoso (Quito, September 28, 1903 – Brussels, December 10, 1971), poet and diplomat. He was also teacher of aesthetics and logic both at the Instituto Nacional Mejía and at the Central University of Ecuador^[25].

Jorge Icaza (Quito, June 10, 1906 – Quito, May 26, 1978), novelist. Achieved international notoriety for his novel "Huasipungo" (1934)^[26].

Nelson Estupiñán Bass^[27][28] (Súa, September 19, 1912 – Hershey^[29], March 1?^[29][30][31], 2002), novelist, poet, playwright and activist. He was awarded the Eugenio Espejo Prize in 1993^[28].

Alejandro Carrión (Loja, 11 March 1915 – Quito, 4 January 1992), poet, novelist and journalist. He was the recipient of the Eugenio Espejo Prize in 1986^[32] and a Maria Moors Cabot Prize in 1961^[33].

Jorge Enrique Adoum^[34] (Ambato, June 29, 1926 – Quito, July 3, 2009), essayist, poet, novelist, and diplomat. In 1989, he was awarded with the Eugenio Espejo Prize for literature^[35].

Oswaldo Muñoz Mariño^[36] (Riobamba, December 24, 1923 – February 20, 2016) architect and painter. He was awarded with the Eugenio Espejo Prize in 1999^[37]. He was also professor of architecture at the UNAM^[37][38].

In addition to poets, novelists and essayists, two presidents of Ecuador have studied at this institution:

Galo Plaza Lasso^[39] (New York City, February 17, 1906 – Quito, January 28, 1987), president of Ecuador from 1948 to 1952, and co-founder of the Colegio Americano de Quito.

Lenín Moreno Garcés, current president of Ecuador, spent part of his secondary education at this institution.

Fiestas del Mejía

Each year, the celebrations for the anniversary of its creation are a huge spectacle^[40].

References

• Lauterbach (surname)
• Lauterbach (Werra)
• Lauter (Baunach)
• Lauter-Bernsbach
• Lauter (Blau)
• Lauterbrunnen–Murren mountain railway
• Lauterbrunnen–Mürren railway
• Lauterbrunner Breithorn
• Lauter (Danube)
• LautereckenFormation
• Lauterecken-Grumbach station
• Lauterecken-Wolfstein
• Lauter (Fils)
• Lauter (Hasel)
• Lauter (Itz)
• Laute (river)
• Lauter Lügen
• Lauter (Neckar)
• Lauter (Odenwald)
• Lauter (Schlitz)
• Lauter (surname)
• Lautertalbahn
• Lautertalbahn (Pfalz)
• Lauter Valley Railway
• Lauter (Wetter)