Centro (Mexico City)

Infobox World Heritage Site
WHS = Historic Center of Mexico City and Xochimilco


State Party = MEX
Type = Cultural
Criteria = i, ii, iii, iv
ID = 412
Region = Latin America and the Caribbean
Year = 1987
Session = 11th
Link = http://whc.unesco.org/en/list/412

El Centro or Centro histórico is focused on the Zócalo or main plaza in Mexico City and extends in all directions for a number of blocks with its furthest extent be west to the Alameda Central cite book |author=Lonely Planet |title=Lonely Planet Mexico City:Your map to the megalopolis |last=Noble |first=John |authorlink= |coauthors= |year=2000 |publisher=Lonely Planet |location=Oakland CA |isbn=1 86450 |pages= |url= ] The Zocalo is the largest plaza in Latin America cite web |url= http://whc.unesco.org/en/list/412 |title= UNESCO World Heritage Sites Mexico City Historic Center and Xochimilco |accessdate=2008-08-30 ] and the second largest in the world after Moscow’s Red Square. cite web |url=http://www.mexicocity-guide.com/zones/historical_centre.htm |title=Mexico City Guide Historical Centre |accessdate=2008-08-30 ] It can hold up to nearly 100,000 people. cite news |first= |last= |authorlink= |coauthors= |title= Mexicans protest nationwide against crime wave |url= http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,414064,00.html |work= |publisher=Fox News |date=August 30, 2008 |accessdate=2008-08-31 ]

Overview

This section of the city has just over nine square km and occupies 668 blocks. It contains 9,000 buildings, 1,550 of which have been declared of historical importance. Most of these historic buildings were constructed between the XVI and XX centuries. It is divided into two zones for preservation purposes. Zone A encompasses the prehispanic city and its expansion from the Viceroy period until Independence. Zone B covers the areas all other constructions to the end of the 19th century that are considered indispensible to the preservation of the area's architectural and cultural heritage. cite journal |last=Valdez Krieg |first=Adriana |authorlink= |coauthors= |year=2004 |month=September |title=Al rescate del centro histórico |journal= Mexico Desconocido |volume=331 |issue= |pages= |id= |url=http://www.mexicodesconocido.com.mx/notas/1307-Al-rescate-del-Centro-Hist%C3%B3rico-(Distrito-Federal) |accessdate=2008-09-02 |quote= ]

This is where the Spaniards began to build what is now modern Mexico City in the 16th century on the ruins of the conquered Tenochtitlan, capital of the Aztec Empire. As the center of the ancient Aztec Empire and the seat of power for the Spanish colony of New Spain, the Centro Historico contains most of the city’s historic sites from both eras as well as a large number of museums. This has made it a World Heritage Site.

History

What is now the historic downtown of Mexico City roughly correlates with the ancient Aztec city of Tenochtitlan, which was founded around 1325. During the prehispanic era, the city developed in a planned fashion, with streets and canals aligned with the cardinal directions, leading to orderly square blocks. The island that the city was founded on was divided into four calpullis or neighborhoods that were divided by the main north-south roads leading to Tepeyac and Iztapalapa respectively and the west-eat road that lead to Tacuba and to a dike into the lake, respectively. The calpullis were named Cuepopan, Atzacualco, Moyotla and Zoquipan, which had subdivisions and a "tecpan" or district council each. The intersection of thie road was the center of the city and of the Aztec world. Here were the Templo Mayor, the palaces of the tlatoani or emperors, palaces of nobles such as the "House of the Demons" and the "House of the Flowers". Also located here were the two most reknowned Aztec schools: the Telpuchcalli for secular studies and the Calmecac for priestly training. When the Spaniards arrived, the city had aqueducts built by Montezuma Ilhuicamina and Ahuizotl as well as a large dike constructed to the east of the city. cite book |title= Guia Oficial Centro de la Ciudad de Mexico |last=Horz de Via |first= Elena|coauthors= |year= 1991|publisher= INAH - SALVAT |language=Spanish |isbn=968-32-0540-2 |pages= 8-9 ]

After the Spanish conquest, this design remained largely intact, mostly due to the efforts of Alonso Garcia Bravo, who supervised much of the rebuilding of the city. This reconstruction conserved many of the main thoroghfares such as Tenayuca, renamed Vallejo; Tlacopan, renamed México Tacuba, and Tepeyac, now called the Calzada de los Misterios. They also kept major divisions of the city added Christian prefixes to the names such as San Juan Moyotla, Santa María Tlaquechiuacan, San Sebastián Atzacualco and San Pedro Teopan. In fact, most of the centro historicos is built with the rubble of the destroyed Aztec city.

A number of people during this time, all Spaniards, accumulated vast wealth mostly through mining and commerce in the 17th and 18th centuries. This wealth is reflected in the various mansions scattered in the centro such as the Palace of Iturbide and Casa de Azulejos (House of Tiles). This house was built in the 16th century in Arab style but its namesake tiles were added in 1747 when the Count of the Valley of Orizaba ordered the Talavera tiles from Puebla. cite book |title= Patrimonio del Mundo America del Norte |last=Lutz |first= Jurgen |coauthors=Jochen Schurmann |year= 2002 |language=Spanish |isbn=84-0161896-7 |volume=1 |pages= 246-257 ]

urrounding the Zocalo

Just off the Zocalo are the Palacio Nacional, the Cathedral Metropolitana, the Templo Mayor with its adjoining museum, and Nacional Monte de Piedad building. The Palacio Nacional borders the entire east side of the Zocalo and contains the offices of the President of Mexico, the Federal Treasury, the National Archives as wells as murals depicting prehispanic life and a large mural filling the central stairway depicting the entire history of the Mexican nation from the Conquest on. This palace was built on the ruins of Moctezuma II’s palace beginning in 1521, using the same tezontle stone used to build the Aztec palace. It was originally in the Hernan Cortes family until the king of Spain bought it to house the viceroys of New Spain and remained so (despite being destroyed and rebuilt again in 1692) until Mexican independence. Facing the Zocalo above a central balcony is the Campana (Bell) of Dolores, which is rung by the president each 15th of Sept to celebrate Independence.

The Metropolitan Cathedral occupies the north end of the Zocalo and was built between 1573 and 1813. The site originally was part of the Aztec Sacred Precinct (called the Teocalli) and contained the main tzompantli, or rack for the skulls of sacrifice victims. The inside of the cathedral is somewhat disfigured by work design to halt the cathedral’s slow descent into the soft ground, made worse by dropping water tables.

The Templo Mayor archeological site and museum, is the center of the ancient teocalli, located now just northwest of the Zocalo. It was demolished by Hernan Cortes in the 1520’s and its location forgotten. The exact site was determined in the beginning of the 20th century, but the decision to excavate was not made until 1978, when electrical workers chanced upon an eight-ton stone disk depicting the Aztec goddess Coyolxauhqui. Excavation unearthed a pyramid built in multiple layers. This is the spot where, according to legend, the Aztecs saw their sign to settle from their wanderings, an eagle perched on a nopal cactus with a snake in its beak, which is still the symbol of Mexico today.

The Nacional Monte de Piedad building is the national pawn shop, founded in 1775 and one of the largest second-hand shops in the world. On this site were houses that belonged to the last Aztec ruler, Moctezuma II, which Hernán Cortes took for his own after the Conquest. These houses orginally stretched from modern-day Isabel la Catolica, Madero, Tacuba and Monte de Piedad streets, prompting one chronicler, Cervantes de Salazar to comment that the residence was not a palace but rather another city. cite book |title=Mexico City Historic Center |last= Galindo |first=Carmen |authorlink= |coauthors=Magdalena Galindo |year=2002 |publisher=Ediciones Nueva Guia |location=Mexico City |isbn=968 5437 29 7 |pages=51 |url= ]

Notable sites north of the Zócalo

Plaza Santo Domingo at corner of Brasil and Cuba streets
Secretaría de Educación Pública at Calle Argentina
Museum of Secretaría de Hacienda y Crédito Público on Calle Moneda
Museo Nacional de las Culturas on Calle Moneda
José Luís Cuevas Museum on Calle Moneda
Templo de la Santísima at corner of Calle Moneda and SantísimaCentro Cultural de España (Cultural Center of Spain), located on Republica de Guatemala street just north of the Mexico City Cathedral.
Museum Archive of Photography, located at the corner of Republica de Guatemala and Republica de Argentina Street
Church of Santo Domingo, located on Plaza Santo Domingo at corner of Republica de Brasil and Belisario Dominguez streets
Lirico Theatre, located on Republica de Cuba street
Antigua Escuela de Economía (Old School of Economics), located on Republica de Cuba Street
Colegio Nacional, located on The Colegio Nacional Building, located on Luis Gonzalez Obregon Street

Antigua Aduana building, on Republica de Brasil just off the Plaza Santo Domingo
Antiguo Colegio de San Ildefonso, located on Justo Sierra 16
Medicine Museum of Mexico located on Republica de Brasil

Notable sites south of the Zocalo

Supreme Court of Justice of the Nation at corner of Pino Suárez and Corregidora
Temple of Saint Augustine Located on Avenida Republica de El Salvador
The original El Palacio de Hierro store located on Carranza and 20 de noviembre streets
The original Liverpool department store on Carranza and 20 de noviembre streets
The Palacio de Iturbide, the restored mansion of the Counts of San Mateo Valparaiso built between 1769 and 1772 by the architect Francisco Guerrero Torres located at the corner of Isabel la Catolica and Carranza streets southwest of the Zocalo The Chapel of the Most Holy Conception of Tlaxcoaque, one of the oldest churches in Mexico City on Fray Servando de Mier
Church of San Bernardo off the Zocalo

Notable sites west of the Zocalo

Casa de Azulejos between Avenida Madero and Avenida Cinco de Mayo
Torre Latinoamericana corner of Avenida Madero and Eje Central
Museo Nacional de Arte on Tacuba Street
Colegio de Minería (College of Mining) on Tacuba Street
Mexican Army Museum originally Bethlemites Hospital, located at Tacuba and Mata
Garden of the Triple Alliance on corner of Tacuba and Mata
Palacio de Correos de Mexico on corner of Eje Central and Tacuba
Cámara de Senadores on Xicoténcatl Street
Asamblea Legislativa on corner of Donceles and Allende
Museo de Estanquillo (cartoons and magazines) on corner of Isabel la Catolica and Madero
Temple of San Felipe Neri "La Profesa" with collection of artwork from the XVII to XX centuries, and guided tours on Saturdays from 1200 to 1400 hrs
Interactive Museum of Economics on Tacuba Street
Santa Clara church - Library of Congress on corner of Tacuba and Mata
Senate of Mexico Chambers on corner of Donceles and Xicotencatl streets
Chamber of Deputies on Donceles Street
Teatro de la Ciudad on Donceles Street
Academia Mexicana on Donceles 66

Notable sites east of the Zocalo

Cathedral Nuestra Señora de Valvanera and Sanctuary of San Charbel, built in the 17th century located at Rep Uruguay and Correo Mayor.
Palacio de la Autonomia de UNAM, (Palace of UNAM's Autonomy) located off of Moneda Street.
Museum of the Secretariat of Finance and Public Credit located on Moneda Street just off the Zocalo
Casa de la Primera Imprenta de América, (House of the First Printshop in the Americas) located just off Moneda Street in the Centro of Mexico City. It is now the Continuing Education Center of UAM
INAH Building at Correo Mayor 11
Departamento de Estadistica Nacional (Dept. of National Statistics) building on Correo Mayor

Around the Alameda Central

The Alameda Central is west of the Zocalo, separated from the rest of the Centro by Eje Central.
Palacio de Bellas Artes on Juárez Street
Teatro Hidalgo on Hidalgo Street north of the Alameda Central
Parish of Santa Cruz, Mexico City on Hidalgo Street
Museo Nacional de la Estampa (National Print Museum) located on Hidalgo Street
Franz Mayer Museum on Hidalgo Street
[Parish of La Santa Vera Cruz de San Juan de Dios] on Hidalgo Street
Ex Temple of Corpus Christi on Juarez Street

Barrio Chino

Mexico City's small "barrio chino" is on Calle Dolores to the southwest of the Zocalo and due south of Bellas Artes.

Architecture

Even though Spanish colonial buildings make up most of Centro histórico there are examples of different architectural styles

*Baroque: Palacio de Iturbide, Casa de los Azulejos, Palacio Nacional and Palacio de los Condes de Valparaiso
*Neoclassical: Palacio de Mineria
*Italiante style: Edifico de Correos
*Art Nouveau Palacio de Bellas Artes (exterior)
*Beaux-Arts: Museo Nacional de Arte, Banco de México
*Art Deco Banco de Mexico (anexo guardiola), Interior of Palacio de Bellas Artes
*Functionalist: Torre Latinoamericana

20th and 21st centuries

Deterioration of the area

From Aztec times, the Centro Historico used to be where the wealthy and elite lived. However, in the early 20th century, these classes began to move to areas west and southwest of the Centro, to neighbourhoods such as Colonia Juárez, Colonia Cuauhtémoc, Colonia Roma and Colonia Condesa. The Centro remained the commercial, political and intellectual center through the mid 20th century although it was around this time that UNAM moved most of its facilities to the new Ciudad Universitaria. The reason for the decline of the city center was partly man-made and partly natural. In the 1940’s, the city government froze rents so that until 1998 when the government repealed the law, tenents were still paying 1950’s-level rents. With no financial incentive to keep up their properties, landlords let their buildings disintegrate. The 1985 earthquake took its toll on a number of these structures, which were never fixed or rebuilt, leading to slums with and garbage-strewn vacant lots. The result was the loss of about 100,000 residents of the “Colonia Centro”, leaving the area almost deserted at night. cite journal |last=Butler |first=Ron |authorlink= |coauthors= |year=2002 |month=Sept |title=Center of Belated Attention |journal=Economist |volume=364 |issue=8290 |pages=37 |id= |url= |accessdate=2008-09-30 |quote= ]

By the 1980’s, so much had fled the Centro that many of its former mansions were either abandoned or turned into tenements for the poor, cite journal |last=Smith |first=Geri |authorlink= |coauthors= |year=2004 |month=May |title=Mexico City gets a face-lift |journal=Business Week |volume= |issue=3884 |pages= |id=00077135 |url= |accessdate=2008-09-30 |quote= ] and its sidewalks and streets taken over by pickpockets and milling vendors. For many people, especially international visitors, Mexico City’s reputation for pollution, traffic and crime has made the city someplace “get into and out of as fast as you can,” seeing it as little more than an airport through which to make their connecting flights to resort areas like Cozumel. Until recently, many of the restaurants of the area, even the best, would close early to allow employees time to get home because the area was not particularly safe at night. cite journal |last=Butler |first=Ron |authorlink= |coauthors= |year=1999 |month=Nov/Dec |title=A New Face for the Zocalo |journal=Americas |volume=51 |issue=6 |pages=4-6 |id=03790940 |url= |accessdate=2008-09-30 |quote= ]

Revitalization of area

Since then the government has made efforts to revitalize this part of the city. Starting in the early 2000’s, it infused 500 million Mexican pesos (55 million USD) into the Historic Center Trust and entered into a partnership with a business group lead by Carlos Slim, to buy dozens of centuries-old buildings and other real estate to rehabilitate. Work began with renovating 34 blocks just north of the Zocalo, digging up the antiquated drainage system and improving water supply. An architect was put in charge of each of the thirteen main streets to restore the facades of more than 500 buildings. The latest infrastructure projects of this type have been centered on the southwest portions of the area, on República de El Salvador, Talavera, Correo Mayor, Mesones and Pino Suárez streets, mostly focusing on repaving streets and updating the very old drainage system of the area. In the process, the construction is unearthing artifacts from the pre-hispanic period to the present day. cite news |first=Cruz |last=Alejandro |authorlink= |coauthors= |title=Arrasa con vestigios prehispánicos rescate del Centro Histórico |url=http://www.jornada.unam.mx/ultimas/2008/08/30/arrasan-con-vestigios-prehispanicos-obras-urbanas |work= |publisher=La Jornada |date=30-08-2008 |accessdate=2008-09-02 ]

All over the historic center, streets have been pedestrianized, buildings have been remodeled and restored, and new museums opened. In the 1990’s, after many years of controversy, protests and even riots, most street vendors were evicted to other parts of the city. The impetus to bring things back to the city center included the construction of the new mayoral residence just off the Zocalo. The government has buried electric and telephone cables in the area, and replaced old asphalt with paving stones. It has also installed nearly 100 security cameras to help with crime issues. This paved the way for the opening of upscale eateries, bars and fashionable stores. Also, young people are moving into downtown lofts. To attract more tourists, there are new red double-decker buses.

Zocalo as focus

The Zocalo itself has become a venue for fine and popular cultural events. Some example of events held here recently are Spencer Tunick’s photo shoot cite web |url= http://www.spencertunickmexico.unam.mx/ |title= Spencer Tunick en Mexico |accessdate=2008-08-30 ] , the Ashes and Snow nomadic museum cite web |url= http://www.ashesandsnow.org/es/info/?module=page&idsection=1 |title=Exposicion Ciudad de Mexico |accessdate= 2008-08-31 ] and a skateboarding/BMX event that drew 50,000 young people on 24 August 2008 cite news |first=Jesus |last=Barba |authorlink= |coauthors= |title= Concierto del Zocalo dejó 70 jovenes lesionados |url=http://www2.esmas.com/noticierostelevisa/mexico/008550/concierto-del-zocalo-deja-70-jovenes-lesionados |work= |publisher=Noticias Televisa |date=24 Aug 2008 |accessdate=2008-08-31 ] . The Festival de México is an annual event with programs dedicated to art (popular and high) and academia. In 2008, was the 24th Festival with 254 performances and shows from over 20 countries.in 65 plazas and other locations in this section of the city. cite journal | last =Hinojosa | first =Beatriz | authorlink = | coauthors = | year =2008 | month =April | title =Festival de Centro Historico | journal = Mexico Desconocida| volume =374 | issue = | pages =8 | id = | url =www.mexicodesconocido | accessdate = | quote = ]

It is still central to national level protests such as those staged by Lopez Obrador after the 2006 Presidental Elections cite news |first= |last= |authorlink= |coauthors= |title= Leftist’s supporters paralyze Mexico City Center |url= http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/14119697/ |work= |publisher=MSNBC |date=August 1, 2006 |accessdate=2008-08-31 ] and the nationwide protest against crime held on Aug 30, 2008.

Photo Gallery

References