Centro Historico

A tour through the Centro Historico reveals each chapter of Mexico City’s remarkable history.

In the central square known as the Zocalo, the ruins of the Templo Mayor and the pre-Colombian metropolis of Tenochtitlan sit alongside the Metropolitan Cathedral, built on the same site by the conquistadores after they established Mexico City as the capital of New Spain.

The story of Mexico’s post-independence history can be seen through the Palacio de Bella Artes, a spectacularly opulent theatre that illustrates the lavishness of the Porfirio Diaz presidency. This era of the nation’s history ended with the Mexican Revolution, a bloody civil war commemorated with the Monumento a la Revolución.

A thriving business district through the latter part of the 20th century, the iconic Torre Latinoamericana was once Latin America’s tallest building. To this day the streets of the Centro Historico bustle with crowds visiting numerous markets, restaurants, parks and shopping districts.