El Zócalo & la Catedral Metropolitana

Zócaalo facing Cathedral

Zócalo facing Palacio Nacional

Building on the edge of the Zócalo

The first place you have to go when you visit Mexico City is always the Zócalo or the main square in the Centro Histórico of the city. It is the cultural and political center of the city, surrounded by the Catedral Metropolitana, the Palacio Nacional, and lots of other historical and governmental buildings. Any major events or protests take place in the Zócalo, and no photograph that I took could do justice to its enormity. It takes up an entire city block.

Catedral Metropolitana

One of the most fascinating things to me about this part of the city is that the Spaniards built their city center, Cathedral, etc. right over the Aztec's. So, just to the right of the Cathedral are the ruins of the Aztec's Templo Mayor. Also, just underneath the sidewalk in front of the cathedral they uncovered some old stairs. I wish I could tell you what they were from! Either the Spaniards or the Aztecs, but I didn't take a special tour that would have explained it. Sorry. Also, if you read the Wikipedia article that I linked to above, you can read about how the Cathedral was (and still is) sinking because—as you know—Mexico City was built on a lake. Apparently different parts were sinking at different rates which was obviously causing problems for those two towers you see in the picture. Apparently, they were able to stabilize it such that now the whole thing sinks at the same rate.

Stairs uncovered in front of Cathedral

Templo Mayor

Inside the Cathedral is impressive with marble and gold leaf decorations. Among the interesting things that I saw were the chapel for la Virgen de Guadalupe who one of the most important figures of the Mexican Catholic church. You can always tell it's her because she always has a blue-green mantle over her head and is surrounded by a yellow-golden halo. Also, there was a chapel to a saint of keeping secrets, and outside his chapel was a massive bundle of padlocks, just to seal the deal.

Central aisle

Main altar

Chapel to the Virgen de Guadalupe

Altar to the saint of keeping secrets! Lock it up!!