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| Old Lake of Texcoco. |
The ancient city founded in 1325 surrounded by the old lake of Texcoco, it's name Mexico - Tenochtitlan has two meanings "In the center of the lake of the moon" and "Place of tunas over stones". the legend says that a tribe of nahuas from Aztlán received an orden from the God of the War Huitzilopochtli (the blue humming bird of the south) to leave the land of Aztlán and go all the way to the south where they will found an eagle placed over a nopal devouring a snake.
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| Quetzalcoátl |
Beneath the city still lies the ruins of the Aztec empire, a block ahead from the Zocalo are the remains of the Great Temple, that was dedicated to worship Huitzilopochtli and Tlaloc the God of the Rain, walk trought this part of the city is to watch the collition of two worlds as in any other city of the world, at least the ones that I've been.
Beside the temple is the museum, it takes and hour and a half to vistit all the halls.
This is Mictlantecuhtli, the lord of Mictlán, the underworld, the aztecs believe that when you died, you start a journey for about four years throught nine places of the underworld until you reach the Mictlan.
Tezcatlipoca. the smoky mirror, is the evil character in the aztec mythology, the enemy of Quetzalcoatl.
Tzinacan, the Bat God, associated to MIctlantecuhtli.
Let's return to the Zocalo to see why the capital of Mexico is known as the city of palaces, the first building to see is the National Palace, the official headquarters of the executive power, the walls of palace are adornated with the paints of Diego Rivera. This is the place where the presidents celebrate the Mexican Independence Day doing the same speech that the priest Hidalgo did in 1810, this palace was built by orders from Hernan Cortes as his second residence during the colony.
The second building is the Metropolitan Cathedral, also the second place most important for the catholic people in Mexico City just behind La Villa, builded in 1571 over the ruins of the temple of Quetzalcoatl, a real shame but what can we do!!, anyway we can admire the neoclasical facade of this temple, you can climb to the towers, and enjoy a better look of the downtown, on the atrium you may see a couple of windows in the ground that allows to watch the ruins of the old temple.
The main square, the zocalo whose real name is Constitution Square originally was designed to be a column during the Santa Anna's goverment to celebrate the Independence, these days the current goverment uses this place to free concerts, expos and too many other events
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| The main square on the Day of the Deaths |
We go one block behind the National Palace to see the old temple of Santa Teresa, it seems that is going to collapse in any minute as a result of the age and many earthquakes, but it's worth to see the dome.
On the street Justo Sierra is one of the oldest college of the New Spain, the Saint Ildefonso College builded by the jesuits in 1588 and turned into a museum since 1992, this building was choosen by Jose Vasconselos, one of the greatest leaders and intellectuals in the post-porfiriato, he gathered the best muralists as Diego Rivera, Jose Clemente Orozco and David Alfaro Siqueiros to use its walls to educate the people of Mexico.
By the street of Republica de Uruguay there's and old house where it happened an oldest legend of the colony. the house of Don Juan Manuel.
The story tells that a very rich man named Don Juan Manuel who was married to a very virtous and beautiful woman but he was desperate because he couldn't get his woman pregnant, so he decide to leave it all to involve into church as a friar, so he called a nephew to manage his business, once he leave his wife gets pregnant and jealousy turn him mad so he sold his soul to the devil one night to find the one that dishonored him, and the devil says that he must go out every night at 11:00 and killed the first man that finds on the street, He said "what time is it" and the other man answered 11:00, then Don Juan Manuel told him "you're a lucky man because you know the hour of your death" once he said that, he stabbed him in the chest, the next day the devil said that he killed the wrong man, and need to do the same thing the next night, too many nights Don Juan Manuel murdered too many men, one day he discover that the corpse outside his house was of his nephew so felt the regret and he went to the priest to told him what he did, the priest put a penance on him, he has to pray during three night beside the gallows, the first night while he was praying he heard a cry from the underground claiming for his soul, the second night he saw a ghost courtship, and the third night he was found hanged.
By the street of Madero, originally named street of Plateros there is one of the most beautiful buildings "La Mexicana" that belonged to an insurance company
on the same street is the Iturbide's Palace home of Agustín de Iturbide the first Mexican emperor
Another famous house on this street is La casa de los azulejos (house of the tilings) because of its facade, this house belongs to Graciana Suárez de Peredo the fifth Countess of the valley of Orizaba, two centuries later this place turned into the Mexican Jockey Club a Freemason Club.
Reaching this point if we turn to the right across the alley of the countess we will find the Manuel Tolsa Square on the street of Tacuba, to the right is the Palace of Mining a neoclassical building that belongs to the school of engineering of UNAM
In front of the Palace of Mining is the National Museum of Art, an eclectic palace builded in the early XX century by orders of Porfirio Díaz, in the middle of the square there is a statue in bronze to honor Carlos IV, designed by the same architect, the spanish Manuel Tolsa
On the same street with the cross of Eje Central it's another eclectical construction, The Postal Palace, may we think of Porfirio Diaz as tyrant, but we must recognized that he had a great vision of the city that he wants to leave as his legacy.
Inside of this building we may admire a the beautiful stairs that embellish the palace
We cross the avenue that separates the downtown of the Alameda Park, designed in 1592 by the orders of the viceroy Luis de Velasco, this park became the favourite place for the recreation of the old population of the New Spain, on the limits of this park was the stake of the inquisition, in 2012 this place was remodel.
Beside the Alameda there's another building of the Porfirio Diaz era, the Palace of the Beauty Arts, the Mexican Opera House, in which stage many international artist have been performed, for instance Luciano Pavarotti.
Another monument that we visited was the Hemiciclo a Juárez, a cenotaph that honored the former president Benito Juarez, was builded on 1910, and it's made of Carrara marble. a work of the architect Guillermo Heredia.
For many years this skyscraper was the highest of the capital city
We crossed the Juárez avenue to visit a new museum in the city, the museum of popular art, that exhibit the mexican hand crafts of all the states of the country, just take a look at these pieces..
For today it's enough there's a lot of things to see in this city, even just in the downtown, but we'll leave it for another weekend, by now, let's just finish the evening at El Cielo, a lounge bar located on the Hidalgo Avenue and Paseo de la Reforma.
Thanks...
