Compass Puerto Rico

Today I’m going to talk about a place that is not particularly a tourist site, nevertheless It has a great history and is a great place to take pictures.  It is the University of Puerto Rico, Mayagüez Campus.  It was established in 1911 as “Colegio de Agricultura y Artes Mecanicas”, CAAM as many still call it.  It was intended to be used to teach agriculture and other mechanical arts.  In 1918, as many of the architectures that I have posted earlier, the university suffered a huge earthquake that destroyed most of its buildings and structures.  Interestingly the entrance of the Degetau Hall remained unharmed.  The hall was reconstructed only to be torn down during the late 1940.  During this process the entrance proved to be virtually indestructible and was not demolished.  In 1988 the ruins of the Degetau Hall entrance were moved to its current location and became the emblem of the institution. It was called “El Pórtico”.

Today the oldest building in campus is the Jose de Diego Building, built in 1911.  It is used for the administrative offices and the university’s rectory.  The building was inscribed in the National Historic Building Registry as an architectic patrimony.  In 1993 the building underwent a restoration process.

Today this institution is called “Universidad de Puerto Rico, Recinto Universitario de Mayagüez”. Thus its acronym RUM.

The model in this photo shoot is Carol Alduen. The pictures where taken in “El Pórtico”.

To view the location of this site please click here.

El Pórtico

Carol Alduén