Mexico City, Mexico

18 May 2008

English+Español, Photos, Places, Scrapbook, Travel, Urban

Aleph and I spent a wonderful week and a half in Mexico City with our friends Juan and Maritere.

El deber del ojo derecho es sumergirte en el microscopio, mientras que el ojo izquierdo interroga el microscopio
~Leonora Carrington

I had been to Mexico City during my first visit to Mexico in 2006, but I really did not have time to explore and get to know this wonderful city.

I must say I really fell in love with it! I was completely taken by its fullness of culture, art, color, and wisdom…

What really amazed me was the connection that the people seem to still have with the earth, even if it’s subtle (and by the way, I had never been to a city so full of trees!).

I will finish with a very famous quotation among mexicans by Benito Juárez, who is regarded to mexicans as one of their greatest and most beloved leaders: “Entre los individuos, como entre las naciones, el respeto al derecho ajeno es la paz” (Among individuals, as among nations, respect for the rights of others is peace).

Here’s some historical information about this extraordinary city:

The origins of Mexico City date back to 1325, when the Aztec city of Tenochtitlan was founded and later destroyed in 1521 by Spanish conqueror Hernan Cortes. Then the city served as the capital of the Viceroyalty of the New Spain until the outbreak of the Independence War in 1810. The city became the capital of the Mexican Empire in 1821 and of the Mexican Republic in 1823 after the abdication of Agustin de Iturbide.

During the Mexico – U.S. war in 1847, the city was invaded by the American army. In 1864 the French invaded Mexico and the emperor Ferdinand Maximilian of Habsburg ruled the country from the Castillo de Chapultepec and ordered to build Avenue of the Empress (today’s Paseo de la Reforma promenade). Porfirio Díaz assumed power in 1876 and left an outstanding mark in the city with many European styled buildings such as the Palacio de Bellas Artes and the Palacio Postal.

Diaz was overthrown in 1910 with the Mexican Revolution and this marked a radical change in the city’s architecture. The 20th century saw the uncontrolled growth of the City beyond the Centro Historico with the influx of thousands of immigrants from the rest of the country.

In 1968 the city was host to the Olympic games which saw the construction of the Azteca stadium, the Palacio de los Deportes, the Olympic stadium and other sports facilities. In 1985 the city suffered an 8.1 Richter grade earthquake that tore down several buildings in the Centro Historico, Colonia Roma and other old neighborhood.

Source: Wikitravel.org

You can also find some more artistic pictures here.

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