Highlights of Mexico City

Metropolitan Cathedral, side, seen from the Templo Mayor

From its founding as Tenochtitlan by the Mexica (Aztec) Nahuatl in 1325 through the Spanish conquest in 1521, colonial era, independence in 1821 and revolution in 1910, Mexico City has been and remains one of the world's great cities.  “Mexico, Distrito Federal,” often referred to as “D.F.,” sprawls over more than 1,485 km² (571 sq mi) and offers the visitor excavated pre-Columbian sites, colonial architecture, markets that offer everything from food to jewelry and textiles, great restaurants, splendid museums and a castle. 

More than any other Latin American country, Mexico has embraced and celebrates its indigenous, European and Mestizo (European-aboriginal) roots.  D.F. embodies all of these—from the Aztecs’ Templo Mayor, which sits next to the Metropolitan Cathedral, to Chapultepec Castle, begun in the late colonial period, to museums whose holdings range from pre-Columbian treasures to the paintings of Rufino Tamayo, to the Palacio de Bellas Artes, an art nouveau and art deco theatre where the world-famous Ballet Folklórico de México and the Mexico City Philharmonic perform.

On the Paseo de la Reforma, the city’s main east-west thoroughfare, take time to stop and enjoy two of Mexico’s great monuments: El Ángel (The Angel), the monument to independence, and the statue of Cuauhtémoc, the last Aztec emperor. (The only statue of Hernán Cortes in Mexico City depicts him with his indigenous concubine, Malinche, and their son, and was originally located in Coyoacán—better known as the site of Frida Kahlo’s Blue House.  Public objections, however, forced the government to move it to the obscure Xicoténcatl Garden in the Barrio of San Diego Churubusco.)

Upscale shopping, hotels and a variety of eateries are available in the Zona Rosa, a major tourist area two kilometres (1 mi.) west of D.F.’s historic centre, the Zocalo.  Day trips out of the city include a visit to the Basilica of Guadalupe and Tenochtitlan to the north, the Friday market in Toluca an hour to the west, and a relaxing day in the floating gardens of Xochimilco—the only remaining canals from the Aztec period—an hour south.  Be prepared for altitude fatigue the first day or two; at 2,241 m (7,352 ft) Mexico City is the third-highest capital in the world, after La Paz, Bolivia and Quito, Ecuador.

Zocalo, Cathedral, and Palacio de Gobierno

This vast open space in the heart of Mexico City’s historic district has been a gathering place for people from Aztec times to the present.  Anchored in its centre by a flag pole from which flies a mammoth Mexican flag, the Zocalo—whose official name is “Plaza of the Constitution”-- is a place to meet, stroll, people watch, and enjoy the historic buildings that border it on two sides: the Metropolitan Cathedral on the north and the Palacio Nacional on the east.

On the other two sides are hotels and office buildings that have maintained their colonial facades.  On national holidays—and on occasion for political protests—the Zocalo is filled with Mexicans celebrating their heritage or demanding change.

Templo Mayor – Great Temple of the Aztecs

Chac Mool, holding bowl associated with sacrifices. 

Steps off the Zocalo, immediately next to the cathedral, is the excavated site of the Aztecs’ Templo Mayor, which occupied the centre of Tenochtitlan, the Aztec capital.  Following the conquest the Spanish destroyed the top levels of the Great Temple and  built the cathedral on top of part of it (a common practice throughout Latin America). Another, large area of the temple was simply buried under newer structures and this is the part that now open to the public, with a new, excellent museum the houses many artifacts encountered during the years-long excavations.

Palacio de Bellas Artes

The Palacio de Bellas Artes, Mexico’s pre-eminent theatre, is located in the heart of the historic district next to Alameda Park and eight blocks west of the Zocalo. Construction began in the early twentieth

century but halted during the 1910-1917 Mexican Revolution and didn’t resume until 1932.  Completed in 1934, it immediately became the prime venue for symphony concerts, opera, theatre, literature and dance. Visitors know Bellas Artes best for performances by the Ballet Folklórico de México, which performs several times a week.  The Palacio de Bellas Artes is also a museum, housing murals by Diego Rivera, José Clemente Orozco, David Siquieros, and Rufino Tamayo, and offering art exhibits.  Bellas Artes is open from 10-6 daily.

 

Alameda Park

National Museum of Anthropology

Originally begun in 1825, the National Museum of Anthropology today occupies a sprawling edifice of 79,700 meters² (almost 8 hectares) or 857,890 feet² (almost 20 acres). Its twenty-three exhibition rooms are arranged around a patio the centrepiece of which is a splendid concrete pillar that supports a huge concrete umbrella.  The museum contains the largest collection of pre-Columbian Mexican art in the world—over 600,000 items—as well as ethnographic exhibits that portray Mexico’s indigenous cultures.  Highlights include the Aztec Sun Stone—sometimes misnamed the “Aztec Calendar,” Olmec heads, Mayan murals, and a replica of the Aztec emperor’s feathered crown.  The museum is open daily with varying hours. One can easily spend a day here and its excellent restaurant makes that possible.

Chapultepec Park

With fountains, museums, monuments, a zoo and a castle Chapultepec Park, better known as Bosque de Chapultepec, has something for everyone of all ages. Chapultepec, which means “grasshopper” in Nahuatl—the still-spoken language of the Aztecs—offers children a Museum of the Child, a zoo and an amusement park with ferris wheel and roller-coaster. Seniors have their own garden.  Everyone can enjoy Lake Chapultepec with its restaurants, cafes, scenic train and boats to rent. Chapultepec’s most famous museum is the National Museum of Anthropology but there are also museums of modern art, contemporary art and natural history. The Museo del Caracol (shell) is so called for its spiralling shape but its formal name is “Roundabout of the Struggle of the Mexican People for their Liberty.” Throughout the park there are fountains dedicated to pre-Columbian and more contemporary figures. Among these the most moving is Niños Heroes, dedicated to six young cadets who leapt to their deaths from Chapultepec Castle rather than surrender to U.S. forces in the Mexican-American War. The Bosques de Chapultepec is located in the centre of Mexico City and is open from early morning to late evening.

Basilica of Guadalupe

The Basílica of Guadalupe—Basílica de Santa María de Guadalupe—is home to the greatest icon in Latin American Roman Catholicism: the cloak worn by Juan Diego, an indigenous widow, when he encountered an image of the Virgin Mary on Tepeyac Hill north of Mexico City on December 12, 1531. The young woman, dressed like an Aztec princess, instructed him to visit the bishop, carrying roses that had miraculously appeared on the hillside in his cloak, and tell the bishop to build a church in her honour on the site. When Diego opened his cloak the roses spilled onto the floor and imprinted on the cloak was an image of the indigenous, dark-skinned woman Diego had met.

Relief Portrayal of Juan Diego's Encounter with the Virgin

This cloak is the centerpiece of the Basilica, protected by bullet-proof glass and visible from every corner of the round sanctuary. A moving walkway carries visitors past the cloak. The original church, built in the 16^th century, had to be abandoned due to severe structural problems and the Basilica of Guadalupe was built next to it in the mid-1970s. The basilica is open from early morning to late evening. There are thirty Masses each day either in the basilica or adjoining chapels.