Zócalo: The Birthplace of the Constitution
The heart of Mexico City, is the Plaza de la Constitución. Residents began calling it the Zócalo, meaning 'base', in the 19th century, when plans for a major monument to independence went unrealized, leaving only the pedestal, and where the country's first constitution was proclaimed in 1813. It hosts military parades, social and political events, concerts, displays, fairs, and public art installations. Dominated by three of the city's most visited tourist attractions - the National Palace, the Metropolitan Cathedral, and the Templo Mayor with its Aztec relics, Zócalo is no doubt the perfect place from which to begin exploring this city with rich history.
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Mexico City Metropolitan Cathedral
The Metropolitan Cathedral in Mexico City is the oldest and largest cathedral in all of Latin America. Begin in the late 16th century, the cathedral is a medley of styles and dominates the city's huge plaza, the Z?_calo. The Metropolitan Cathedral contains many prized works of art from the colonial era, in a variety of artistic styles. The cathedral's interior also shows a mingling of styles, with particular highlights being the richly carved Altar of the Kings from 1739 with its superb religious painting of the Assumption, to which the cathedral is dedicated. A sound-and-light show, "Voices of the Cathedral" leads visitors on a candlelit stroll through the cathedral accompanied by period music. Tickets are $25.
Chapultepec Park
It is one of the world's great urban parks, along with the Bois de Boulogne in Paris, Central Park in New York, and the Imperial Gardens in Tokyo. But for the 20 million residents of Mexico City, it is more than just a vast verdant expanse in the heart of the city. It is also a repository of national history and identity, and their favorite place for a Sunday picnic or soccer game. The park is more than 4 square kilometers, and it's divided into three parts. The first part is the oldest and most active and also the one most likely to be of interest to visitors. The second part, dominated by a pair of amusement parks in the best Coney Island tradition, Mexico's national cemetery, and several lakeside restaurants, is largely manmade. The third part, though less frequented, is especially attractive because it abounds in trees, wildlife, fresh air and calmness.
The House of Tiles
The House of Tiles - La Casa de los Azulejos - is a masterpiece of Baroque architecture of New Spain. It is so called because the facade is covered with Talavera tiles from Puebla. The exterior of 16th century former palace of the counts of Orizaba is covered in blue and white Talavera tile. The Zapatista Army occupied the building during the revolution. Sanborns took over the property around 1919 and then opened a soda fountain, the first of what is presently a national chain. Take a walk up the grand staircase and you can see a mural painted by Jose Clemente Orozoco in 1925. The café is a pleasant place to make a pit stop if you are spending the day in the historic center.
National History Museum
Considered one of the most important museums in the world, History Museum of Mexico City and the National Anthropology and, possesses the most numerous collection of pre-Columbian art in the world, which distributed amongst its 24 rooms, constitutes the biggest museum in Latin America. Not like any other museums we have seen, this building offers us a different vision. Apart from showing unique pieces of prehispanic art, it has reproductions of some of the most outstanding buildings in Mesoamerica, which submerge us into their culture and way of life. The museum also has a place for temporal exhibitions, which come mainly from other important museums in the world.
The National Palace
The National Palace in Mexico City is a gigantic building and one of the city's major attractions. It's the seat of Mexico's federal government since the age of the Aztecs. Since it's a working building, many offices are off limits to visitors. However, you can pass through the enormous baroque facade dominating the eastern side of the Z?_calo and enjoy some of its spacious interiors. The building represents the Mexican people as a mix of both Spanish and Aztec. The old palace was destroyed to make way for the new though both were built of the very same stone. According to Zedillo, this speaks something that is not quite an Aztec, but not quite Spanish either, much like the country itself. It also houses the State Archives, with many interesting historical documents, and the Biblioteca Miguel Lerdo de Tejada, one of the largest and most important libraries in the country.
The Square of the Three Cultures and Santiago de Tlatelolco
The Plaza of the Three Cultures, also known as the Plaza de las Tres Culturas in Spanish, symbolizes Mexico's special cultural heritage. When the center of some of the most capable Native American empires (Aztec), Mexico turned into a flourishing Spanish colony in the sixteenth century. Today, most of the Mexicans are mestizos, or persons with blended European and Native American ancestry representing a third culture, in this way the name of the area represents a mixture of all three cultures. It is located at the ancient city Aztec city of Tlatelolco where you can see the ruins. Likewise of note is the Baroque church of Santiago de Tlatelolco, built in the early 17th century on the site of a small chapel from 1535 that belonged to the Franciscan convent of Santiago.
The Palace of Fine Arts
Considered one of the world's most beautiful buildings, the Mexico City Palace of Fine Arts is a harmonious combination of Art Nouveau, Art Deco, and Baroque styles, a style sometimes called "Porfiriano," after architecture-obsessed Mexican President Porfirio Díaz, who commissioned the project. Towering over the adjacent park, this massive marble building was completed in 1934 and is so heavy that it has sunk more than four meters, despite attempts to lighten it by removing part of its huge dome. In addition to its daytime attractions, visitors can appreciate the building's acoustic excellence by enjoying a performance at its National Theater. International artists appear regularly, but try to catch Mexico City's own Ballet Folklórico de México Compania Nacional or National Symphonic Orchestra. Note: If you're able to see a performance, you'll also be rewarded with a chance to enjoy the building's stunning interior d??cor and large murals.
Paseo de la Reforma and the Angel of Independence
The Angel of Independence is a victory column located on a roundabout over Paseo de la Reforma in downtown Mexico City. It was constructed to celebrate the centennial of the start of Mexico's War of Independence in 1910. In later years, it was made into a mausoleum for the greatest heroes of that war. The first stone was laid in 1902, Antonio Rivas Mercado directed the architectural project while Italian artist Enrique Alciatti imported the marble from Italy and directed the bronze smelting of the monument's angel. On16 of September 1910, El Angel appeared for the first time in public. In addition to its fine statues of the heroes of the country's independence movement is the Mausoleum with its many skulls of some of the country's most important historic figures.
Templo Mayor and the Great Pyramid of Constitución
Located in the heart of the city, the Templo Mayor Museum and ruins are a must-see when visiting Mexico. In 1978, a worker digging a city construction project near a downtown cathedral hit something big and hard with his shovel. The object in question was a 500 years old stone sculpture depicting an ancient Aztec goddess. This huge stone sculpture was no ordinary find. An incredible work of art depicting the moon goddess Coyolxauqui, this sculpture was the tip of the proverbial iceberg. Today, when visiting the site, a few artifacts remain "in situ", giving the visitor the chance of seeing the objects in their original setting. However, the site's museum houses the majority of artifacts excavated thus far, approximately 6,000 objects.
