Mexico City Art and Culture - Mexico City Tours and Travel

The most interesting historical site in Mexico City is the Zócalo (The Main Square) where numerous events took place during the course of Mexican history. The Zócalo was often visited by Viceroys during the colonial period and by presidents after the War of Independence; the Emperor Maximilian was also a frequent visitor. The whole square is surrounded by some extraordinary architecture, including the Metropolitan Cathedral and the National Palace.

Museums

The Federal District more museums than anywhere else in the country. These museums contain samples from pre Hispanic as well as colonial cultures, they have displays of the history of the city and collections of modern art. There are also Nature museums and those dedicated to Mexican handicrafts. The most outstanding are the National Museum of Anthropology, the Frida Kahlo Museum, the History Museum in Chapultepec Castle, the Modern Art Museum, the Museum of Natural History, the Rufino Tamayo (Art) Museum, the Papalote Children’s Museum, the Mexico City Museum, the Franz Mayer Museum, the Diego Rivera Museum, the National Art Museum and the San Diego Gallery of Vice Regal Art.

Apart from some archeological zones in the surrounding areas where traces of the pre Hispanic civilization have been found, there are three essential archeological sites in Mexico City: The Templo Mayor (the Main Temple) is a series of pyramidal constructions built one over the other, where the monolith of the Mexica goddess, Coyolxauhqui, was found. The Plaza de las Tres Culturas (The Plaza of the Three Cultures) in Tlatelolco shows three very important facets of Mexican architecture: the pre Hispanic, the colonial and the modern. The pyramid at Cuicuilco in the south of the city is a curious circular construction half hidden by the lava the Xitle volcano spewed forth more than three thousand years ago.

Architecture
Architectural works in varying styles were built in the city during the pre Hispanic, colonial and modern eras. The period of the Spanish colony was when sober, baroque style mansions, palaces and sumptuous churches were built, and some of the houses belonging to famous counts and marquises were decorated with carvings and ornaments that reflected their owners’ social status. Great palaces, such as the National Palace, were built as offices for the Vice Regal government and Catholic churches were constructed for the faithful, including one of the most important in America: the Metropolitan Cathedral. Even hospitals, such as the Hospital de Jesús (the Hospital of Jesus), were built in an artistic style that gave them a lofty grandeur.
After the country gained its independence, the neoclassic style took over and changed the look of many of the buildings, thus giving the city an air of elegance. A case in question is the Palacio de Minería (The Mining Palace) and the current Museo Nacional de Arte (The National Art Museum). A “Frenchified” architectural style and (a short time later) art deco came into fashion in the new Roma and Juárez residential districts during the presidency of Porfirio Díaz, enriching the city center with such buildings as the Palacio de Bellas Artes (The Palace of Fine Arts) and the Post Office building.
During the modern era, skyscrapers went up in the Polanco, Anzures and Santa Fe districts and along great avenues such as Avenida Insurgentes where the World Trade Center is located.