Politicians attend dedication ceremony for San Francisco's Mexican Museum

SAN FRANCISCO (KGO) -- San Francisco will soon have a world-class Mexican Museum. Mexico's Secretary of Foreign Affairs, Claudia Ruiz Massieu, came to the dedication ceremony on Tuesday and she had words for people who don't value contributions made by Mexican-Americans.

Dozens came out to see where the largest Mexican Museum in the United States will be located -- on Mission Street in the Yerba Buena Gardens Arts District.

It will have 60,000 square feet of space to hold the largest collection of Mexican, Chicano, and Latin American art in this country.

"We are establishing a cultural institution of major proportion that will be for the Mexican community, Chicano community, and Latin American community as a whole," said museum chairman Andrew Kluger.

The new museum will be about nine times the size of the current Mexican Museum located at Fort Mason, which is not able to display its entire collection of 17,000 pieces. The cost is $59 million.

House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi was among those attending Tuesday's dedication ceremony.

"We are here to honor the culture of the Latino community in San Francisco and in doing so, recognize that the beauty is in the mix," she said.

Massieu flew in for the event. She has openly criticized any suggestions of building a wall between her country and the United States.

"Next time you hear someone talk about building borders between people, ideas, and cultures I invite you to think of San Francisco's most iconic image," she said. "It is a bridge, it is a golden gate that has opened the doors to all of us."

The museum is expected to open in the spring of 2019.

Click here to learn more about the Mexican Museum.