Plus, the stations are filled with charming flourishes that celebrate the city's rich cultural offerings. The Templo Mayor may be pretty much gone but visit the Zocalo station for an illuminating scale model.
When it comes to that old sinking feeling, nothing beats the Metropolitan Cathedral of the Assumption of Mary of Mexico City. Sure, the church is impressive in all the usual ways but what makes it particularly notable is the dropping water table; as the city's residents literally drink away the ground from beneath their feet, the whole structure is condemned to a slow collapse.
The south wing is nearly a metre lower than the rest of the building. No visit to Mexico City is complete without a tour of the murals by legendary Mexican artist Diego Rivera. The most famous, perhaps, is Rivera's take on Mexico's history in the Palacio Nacional. The most enchanting and cheeky is Dream of a Sunday Afternoon in Alameda Park, tucked away in a small building on the edge of the Alameda.
Mexico's heroes and villains are out in their Sunday best and the artist, depicted as a small boy, holds hands with Death. Humour in Mexico often runs to the morbid end of the spectrum. More murals are on display in the neoclassical and art nouveau masterpiece of the Palace of Fine Arts, a centre of opera, dance and theatre.
The interior is art deco why have one style when you can have them all? The best view over the building's facade is found by visiting the quiet coffee shop on the top floor of the nearby Sears department store.
What do you do if you're the world's richest man? Then you open an art museum in a strange, wave-like structure of silver hexagons. The jury is still out on the quality of the museum's curatorship the Los Angeles Times called it Slim's "vanity museum" last year but in terms of spectacle and excess it's hard to beat.
More modest in size but no less ostentatious in its uniquely Mexican way, the Frida Kahlo Museum also known as the Blue House is a wonderful tribute to the distinctive aesthetic of the artist. Her peacocks may be gone but the cobalt-blue buildings are filled with papier-mache sculptures, small artworks and many original pieces of furniture.
While in Kahlo's neighbourhood, take a stroll around the gorgeous historic centre of Coyoacan, which retains its village atmosphere despite the enveloping sprawl of Mexico City. Leon Trotsky lived here for a while and Hernan Cortes declared it the first capital of New Spain in his jaw-dropping and often ridiculous conquest of the country's original inhabitants.
The "it" neighbourhood for the young and hip is undoubtedly Roma, filled with art galleries, bookshops and numerous cafes to sit around in and discuss revolution with urban hipsters secretly attached to their privileged lifestyle. The once staunchly aristocratic neighbourhood's French-style mansions have since been transformed into public institutions and restaurants, though the district retains its sense of art nouveau grandeur, particularly on Alvaro Obregon Avenue, which is lined with ash trees and sculptures.
Choosing where to stay in such an enormous city can be daunting. Just stay here. Not only is The Red Tree House positioned in the friendly and vibrant neighbourhood of Condesa, it's incredibly charming.
The hosts will give you a glass of wine and ask you about your day — and yes, one of the hosts is actually a labrador. If people talk about Chapultepec Park, they actually mean the forest.
Coming in at hectares, this green haven is much the same as New York's Central Park: without it, the city would be all but uninhabitable. It's easy to pass hours just strolling the paths with chilli-coated papaya from the ubiquitous food stalls but Chapultepec actually holds a wealth of museums and even the city zoo. Its crown is the lofty Chapultepec Castle, in the centre of the park on top of "grasshopper hill". A good stop after lunch? Perhaps not.
Yes, mummies. Pro tip : Ask a museum employee for access to the roof for an incredible view and to check out some exhibits on Mexican street art. And though San Rafael has since become one of the coolest places to visit in Mexico City , Cine Opera remains in the dark. Remember Diego Rivera? He did more than murals—the Fuente de Tlaloc is his majestic experimentation with sculpture.
So what is it? The fountain is a giant tiled representation of the Aztec rain god, Tlaloc. Although it fell into disrepair, recently the Fuente de Tlaloc has been restored to its former glory. Which is exactly what it sounds like. Since he found a doll near her body, he decided to hang dolls in the trees.
Today, the island is full of dolls , which people claim whisper to each other and try to lure visitors towards them. General Information. Regional secretariat. Administrative status. In this page. Historic Centre of Mexico City and Xochimilco. Registration Year.
Historical function. Political and cultural. Urban morphology The Zocalo, a quadrangular esplanade in the historic centre of Mexico City, adjacent to Templo Mayor, was superimposed on the earlier urban square of Tenochtitlan, and the gardens of Xochimilco testify to the lacustrine works of the Aztecs. Registration criteria Criterion ii : From the 14 th to the 19 th century, Tenochtitlan, and subsequently, Mexico City, exerted decisive influence on the development of architecture, the monumental arts and the use of space first in the Aztec kingdom and later in New Spain.
Historical reference In the Aztecs, who settled in the Valley of Mexico in the 14th century, erected their capital, known as Tenochtitlan later Mexico City , in the midst of the islands and swamps of the lagoon of Lake Texcoco.
A holy city surrounded by ramparts was then integrated into the ensemble and a network of canals and floating gardens was laid out. The heyday of this Aztec tribe, known as the Mexica, occurred in the 15th century, when the Empire, which had reached its maximum size, controlled trade routes extending as far as the Gulf of Mexico.
This was also a time of religious reform, when human sacrifice was advocated. The construction of the new capital, Mexico City, was undertaken following the Spanish victory on the site of the Tenochtitlan and its adjoining holy city.
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